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LIBRA.'>Y 

University   ot    Calif 


HKOPCRTY  or 
MWUIH  nOV  T.  DARKiiAli- 


THE  LIBRARY 

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OF  CALIFORNIA 

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FIRST  BATTLES. 


^RST  Battles 


AND  HO  W  TO  FIGHT  THEM. 


cf>omc  jfrienDIp  Cfjat^  \xyiX^  ioung  a^cn. 


BY 

FREDERICK  A.  ATKINS. 

\UTHOR   OF   "  MORAL    MUSCLE,  AND  HOW  TO  U5K  IT.' 


"  We  are  like  soldiers  in  a  vast,  widely-extended  battlefield  (wrapped 
in  obscurity)  of  which  we  know  not  the  phases,  of  which  we  seem  utterly 
powerless  to  control  the  issues;  but  we  are  responsible  for  our  own  part — 
whatever  goes  on  elsewhere,  let  us  not  fail  in  that.  The  changes  of  the 
world,  which  men  think  they  are  bringing  about,  are  in  the  hands  oJ 
God.  With  Him,  when  we  have  done  our  duty,  let  us  leave  them."— 
Dean  Church. 


Fleming  H.  Revell  Company, 

NEW  YORK:  i  CHICAGO: 

30    Union    Square:    East.  |      148  and  150  Madison  Street 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1891,  by 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY, 

In  the  o^C3  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


CONTENTS. 


P\GB. 

I.    Money  and  Morals 5 

II.     What  Is  a  Gentleman  ? 22 

III.  How  TO  BE  Insignificant 39 

IV.  The  Philosophy  of  Pleasure 53 

V.    Christ  and  Commerce 65 

VI.    About  Holidays 77 

VII,     Shams 85 

VIII.    The  Lost  Christ 102 


THfS  IS  THE  PROPERTY  OF 
CHAPLAIN  FLOY  T.  BARKMAN 

INTRODUCTION. 


It  falls  to  the  lot  of  most  persons  to  find  life  a 
conflict:  to  some  it  is  a  protracted  and  arduous 
campaign.  This  is  only  to  say  that,  if  we  would 
come  successfully  through  it,  we  must  assume  the 
attitude  of  soldiers,  and  be  well  accoutred  for  the 
fight.  Much  as  there  is  in  military  life  which  we 
cannot  but  deplore,  there  is  no  illustration  more 
frequently  employed  in  Scripture  to  set  forth  the 
duties  and  the  character  of  a  Chi-istian ;  and,  how- 
ever much  we  may  be  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
profession,  and  lament  the  need  for  it,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  most  of  the  personal  qualities  that 
make  a  good  soldier  are  just  those  which  go  to 
constitute  an  exemplary  Christian. 

A  man  may  be  soldierly,  no  doubt,  without  pos- 
sessing even  a  semblance  of  piety;  but,  all  other 
things  being  equal,  the  more  soldierly  he  is,  the 
higher  will  be  the  type  of  his  religion.  If  godly 
men  in  the  army  are  rare,  they  are  generally  ex- 
ceptionally good!  they  have  the  courage  of  their 
convictions,  and  are  decidedly  aggressive  in  their 
piety.  Particularly  valuable  are  the  qualities 
referred  to  in  the  beginning  of  life,  when  tempta- 
tions are  most  numerous  and  powerful.  When  St. 


INTR  on  UC  TION. 


Paul  exhorted  his  young  friend  Timothy  to  be  "a 
good  soldier,"  he  gave  advice  which  all  young  men 
v^ould  do  well  to  lay  to  heart;  and  never,  perhaps, 
was  it  more  needful  than  in  an  age  like  this,when 
the  prevalence  of  luxury  and  the  appetite  for  pleas- 
ure are  so  apt  to  take  all  the  grit  and  manliness 
out  of  the  rising  youth  of  our  land.  Just  as  many 
a  raw  recruit  has  joined  his  country's  service, 
tempted  by  the  seemingly  gay  and  easy  life  of  a 
soldier,  but  has  found,  when  called  to  active  duty 
in  the  field,  that  the  discipline  was  very  different 
from  what  he  expected,  so  it  is  with  thousands  of 
young  men  in  their  setting  out  on  life;  what 
promised  to  be  almost  a  holiday  proving  a  stiff 
conflict,  and  demanding  a  "hardness"  they  had 
not  calculated  upon.  The  first  battles  are  there- 
fore the  most  trying  and  crucial. 

It  is  well  that  this  should  be  understood  and 
prepared  for.  Many  a  young  man  makes  a  moral 
collapse,  because  he  did  not  know  of  the  dangers 
he  had  to  face,  the  enemies  he  had  to  conquer,  and 
the  special  qualities  he  needed  to  possess;  whereas, 
had  he  been  duly  warned  and  counselled,  he  might 
have  come  through  victorious.  Those  are  the  best 
friends  of  youth  who  faithfully  point  out  the  per- 
ils that  lie  before  them,  and  urge  preparation  for 
the  fight.  No  living  man  better  understands  how 
to  do  this  than  the  author  of  First  Battles^  and 
How  to  Fight  Them.   I  think  it  was  John  Bright 


INTR  ODUC  TION. 


who  happily  remarked  some  years  ago,  when 
speaking  of  a  popular  nobleman,  Lord  Roseberry, 
that  he  had  the  face  of  a  boy  and  the  tongue  of  a 
sage;  and  it  would  be  no  extravagance  to  say  of 
our  author  that  his  writings  combine  the  vivacity 
of  youth  with  the  mellow  wisdom  of  maturity. 
He  is  already  favorably  known  by  his  little  book. 
Moral  Muscle^  and  How  to  Use  It^  and  has  se- 
cured a  wide  influence  among  the  rising  gener- 
ation by  his  able  editorship  of  The  Young  Man. 
First  Battles  is  an  admirable  successor  to  Moral 
Muscle^  the  title  in  both  cases  being  singularly 
felicitous. 

One  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  un- 
usual number  of  books  that  have  been  published 
within  the  last  few  years,  specially  addressed  to 
young  men.  The  press  has  clearly  been  alive  to 
the  growing  need  for  this  class  of  literature.  At 
no  period  of  the  world,  probably,  have  the  claims 
of  young  men  been  so  fully  recognized,  or  so  much 
attention  been  bestowed  upon  the  temptations, 
difficulties  and  dangers  that  specially  beset  them. 
This  is  a  hopeful  feature  of  the  age;  and  all  the 
more  so  because,  on  the  whole,  the  tone  of  these 
endeavors  is  bracing  and  invigorating  in  its  char- 
acter. It  is  no  longer  assumed  that  a  young  man  of 
undoubted  piety  must  be  effeminate  in  his  bearing, 
morbid  and  whimsical  in  his  principles,  and  hostile 
to  every  species  of  physical  culture  and  recreation. 


iv  INTRODUCTION. 

On  the  other  hand,  thank  God,  it  is  coming  to 
be  generally  recognized  that  Christianity  aims  at 
saving  the  whole  man,  "  body,  soul,  and  spirit;" 
and  that  genuine  religion  develops  and  ennobles 
all  the  powers.  The  author  of  First  Battles  is  a 
recognized  apostle  of  this  doctrine.  He  is  the 
sworn  enemy  of  cant.  He  believes  that  godliness 
and  manliness  are  close  akin.  He  goes  in  for  a 
religion  that  is  bright  and  brotherly,  courteous 
and  unselfish,  and  whose  invariable  tendency  is  to 
elevate  and  refine,  and  to  turn  out  true  gentlemen. 
Well  does  he  say,  "  One  of  the  most  remarkable 
characteristics  of  gentlemanliness  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  not  so  very  far  removed  from  womanli- 
ness. It  has  a  sacred  modesty,  a  tender  regard 
and  respect  for  weakness  and  loneliness  and  infer- 
iority, a  deep  and  genuine  reverence  for  the  inno- 
cence and  purity  of  womanhood.  But  you  say, 
How  about  manliness?  I  reply  by  asking  another 
question.  Do  you  know  what  manliness  means? 
It  means  virtue.  When  Garfield  said,  '  I  shall  try 
and  become  a  man;  if  I  do  not  succeed  in  that,  I 
shall  be  good  for  nothing,'  he  did  not  mean  that 
his  ambition  was  to  be  merely  big  and  boisterous 
and  robust — he  desired  to  become  gentle  and  strong 
and  good." 

The  object  of  this  little  book,  of  course,  is  not 
to  teach  theology,  but  there  is  not  a  sentence  in 
it  that  is  not  in  harmony  with  healthy  evangelical 


INTR  OD  UC  TION. 


teaching.  The  writer  is  not  forgetful  of  the  Cross, 
with  its  wondrous  mystery  and  its  matchless 
power;  but  his  special  aim  is  to  present  to  young 
men  the  living  Christ,  as  at  once  the  brightest 
example  and  the  truest  Friend.  Leaving  Chris- 
tian doctrine  to  be  handled  by  others,  he  shows 
what  Christian  practice  is;  and  to  all  who,  under 
cover  of  religion,  allow  in  themselves  anything 
that  is  false  or  cowardly  or  mean,  he  administers 
vigorous  and  merited  castigation.  The  perusal  of 
these  pages  cannot  but  be  useful  to  all  who  are 
just  entering  on  life's  first  battles;  here  they  will 
find  the  wise  counsels  and  cheering  words  they 
need.  For  young  men  who  are  leaving  school 
and  home,  and  going  forth  to  push  their  own  way 
in  the  world,  a  more  suitable  gift  could  hardly  be 
selected  than  First  Battles^  and  How  to  Fight 
Them. 

J.  Thain  Davidson. 


PiRST  Battles, 


AND  HOW  TO  FIGHT  THEM. 


I. 

/nONEY  AND  ynORALS. 

'•*  When  a  man  dies,  they  tvIio  survive  him  ask  tuhat 
property  he  has  left  behind  hint.  The  angel  -who 
bends  over  the  dying  man  asks  tvhat  good  deeds  he 
has  sent  before  him.'' — The  Koran. 

"  //  is  physically  impossible  for  a  well- educated,  intellec- 
tual, or  brave  man  to  make  money  the  chief  object  of 
Ais  thoughts.'''' — RusKiN. 

It  seems  a  strange  combination !  Is 
there  any  connection  between  money  and 
morals  ?  If  there  is  it  is  the  connection 
which  exists  between  the  neck  of  the 
criminal  and  the  axe  of  the  executioner — 
a  connection  that  is,  as  a  rule,  hopelessly 
and  absolutely  fatal.  The  reckless  greed 
of  gain  has  driven  more  men  away  from 
Jesus  Christ  than  any  other  passion. 
"Very   sorrowful     .     .     .     for    he    was 


FIRST  BA  TTLES. 


very  rich."  That  is  a  miniature  portrait 
of  a  young  man  who  once  came  to  Christ, 
and  it  tells  the  story  of  many  a  prosperous 
but  dissatisfied  man  to-day.  Have  you 
ever  known  any  man  who  received  the 
slightest  benefit  of  a  high  and  noble  kind 
from  money  ?  Has  it  ever  made  a  man 
good  ?  Has  it  ever  increased  his  gener- 
osity, broadened  his  sympathies,  or  roused 
in  him  a  longing  after  righteousness? 
Never  I  It  adds  to  your  creature  com- 
forts, ministers  to  your  merely  sensuous 
enjoyment;  if  you  possess  brains  it  en- 
ables you  to  encourage  art  and  science, 
and  if  you  are  a  practical  Christian  it 
places  in  your  hand  the  wherewithal  to 
succor  the  suffering  and  reheve  the  dis- 
tressed. But  in  itself  money  has  never 
made  any  man  happy  or  healthy  or  holy. 
On  the  contrary,  it  has  dimmed  the  love, 
wrecked  the  peace,  and  spoilt  the  charac- 
ters of  countless  thousands.  One  of  the 
ablest  preachers  of  the  day,  speaking  re- 


MONEY  AND  MORALS. 


cently,  said  that  "  nothing  but  the  mercy 
of  God  prevented  money  from  doing  harm 
wherever  it  went." 

Don't  you  think  it  is  a  very  impressive 
and  significant  fact  that  the  most  heart- 
less and  contemptible  act  of  treachery 
ever  committed — an  act  which  has  excited 
the  horror  and  disgust  of  all  the  ages — 
should  have  been  due  to  the  selfish  desire 
of  a  miserable  and  covetous  man  to  se- 
cure thirty  pieces  of  silver?  Judas  Iscar- 
iot  was  not  a  degraded  profligate — he  was 
a  disciple,  with  a  character,  no  doubt,  of 
the  utmost  decency  and  respectability. 
He  may  have  been  alluded  to,  for  all  we 
know,  as  a  shrewd,  practical,  hard-headed 
man  of  business.  But  it  was  that  little 
bag  of  money  which  led  to  his  sin,  his 
suicide,  and  his  destruction.  His  love  of 
gain  was  greater  than  his  love  for  his 
Lord. 

And  this  is  just  where  the  danger  ex- 
ists.    Young  men  will  exclaim,  "  Surely 


8  FIRST  BATTLES. 

it  is  not  wrong  to  wish  to  make  money?" 
Certainly  not,  if  you  are  careful  that  when 
you  have  made  the  money  it  does  not  mat 
you.  Riches  are  like  a  rose  in  a  man's 
hand;  if  he  holds  it  gently  it  will  preserve 
its  beauty  of  shape  and  fragrance  of  smell, 
but  if  he  handles  it  tightly  he  will  crush 
and  destroy  it.  Make  your  pile  of  money 
if  you  will — work  on  with  earnestness,  in- 
dustry, and  persistence,  and  may  large 
success  attend  all  your  endeavors.  But 
bear  with  this  brotherly  warning.  Hold 
the  riches  lightly — let  them  flow  out  free- 
ly in  wise  benevolence,  use  them  liberally 
for  the  highest  ends,  and  you  will  have 
done  well.  But  hug  your  wealth,  set  your 
heart  on  it,  let  the  miserly  and  covetous 
spirit  paralyze  your  very  soul,  and  life 
will  become  a  hideous  nightmare,  a  foul 
sepulchre,  a  long  spell  of  hopeless  servi- 
tude. 

Do  you  doubt  this?     Then  listen  to  the 
testimony  of  a  man    who   made    mone)' 


MONEY  AND  MORALS. 


with  great  rapidity  and  got  rid  of  it  with 
equal  celerity.  "  I  have  never  seen  the 
use  of  hoarding  money,"  said  George 
Moore;  "we  may  gather  riches,  but  can 
n?ver  know  who  is  to  spend  them.  God 
preserve  me  against  the  sin  of  covetous- 
ness.  It  is  a  curse  that  eats  out  the  heart 
and  dries  up  the  soul  of  a  man."  Have  we 
not  all  seen  the  man  who  is  rich  and 
wretched?  He  has  given  up  his  life  to 
the  pursuit  of  wealth,  and  in  so  doing  the 
man  has  been  utterly  lost  in  the  machine. 
When  his  bank-book  bulges  out  with  un- 
told riches,  he  finds  that  it  is  impossible 
to  enjoy  them.  He  has  cultivated  no 
lofty  tastes,  formed  no  healthy  habits,  in- 
dulged in  no  Christly  beneficence,  and  so 
the  money  is  nothing  but  an  intolerable 
burden,  and  all  he  can  do  is  to  go  on  rak- 
ing, and  reckoning,  and  grinding,  and 
fighting  for  gold  that  he  does  not  want, 
and  which  he  does  not  know  how  to  use 
when  it  is  acquired. 


lo  FIRST  BATTLES. 

Beware  of  this  reckless  and  ruinous 
ambition  for  wealth.  Remember  the 
words  of  Goethe — 

Men  may  bear  much  from  harsh  severity, 
But  not  a  long  run  of  unmixed  prosperity! 

Riches  are  like  thorns — touch  them  ten- 
derly and  lightly  and  they  are  harmless  ; 
rest  on  them  and  they  will  cut  and  rend  and 
pierce  you.  Therefore  do  not  allow  your 
mind  to  be  muddled  and  your  life  to  be  un- 
settled by  a  vain  desire  for  a  big  bank  bal- 
ance. "A  restlessness  in  men's  minds," 
says  Sir  William  Temple,  "  to  be  some- 
thing they  are  not,  and  to  have  something 
they  have  not,  is  the  root  of  all  immoral- 
ity." That  is  profoundly  and  terribly  true. 
We  forget  that  a  good  farthing  is  better 
than  a  bad  sovereign,  and  that  it  is  far 
more  manly  to  do  the  best  we  can  with 
our  own  feathers  than  to  strut  in  bor- 
rowed plumes.  Why  should  we  be  so 
anxious  for  the  gilded  shams  and  spark- 
ling mockeries  of  the  world  ?     Is  a  man's 


MONE  Y  AND  MORA LS.  1 1 

heart  more  restful  because  his  head  is 
adorned  with  a  coronet  ?  Does  his  Hfe 
gain  in  buoyancy  because  he  keeps  more 
horses  than  he  can  ride  ?  What  nonsense 
it  all  is  !  Instead  of  spoiling  your  life  by 
any  mad  ambition  for  personal  aggrandize- 
ment, do  the  present  duty  manfully  and 
well.  After  all  it/iat  is  the  surest  road  to 
prosperity.  And  if  you  have  sufficient 
grit  in  you  to  stand  the  overwhelming 
temptations  of  riches,  they  may  be  be- 
stowed on  you  one  of  these  days,  and  then 
you  will  wonder  how  you  could  ever  have 
wasted  a  single  moment  in  longing  for  so 
fleeting  and  superficial  a  possession.  But 
never  allow  the  devil  to  make  you  morbidly 
discontented  with  your  environment.  If 
he  once  does  that,  he  can  work  your  ruin 
without  much  further  trouble.  "You 
were  meant,"  he  will  say,  "  for  something 
better  than  this  monotonous  toil ;  get 
gold  and  plenty  of  it,  put  on  fine  airs, 
and  help  to  swell  the  mob   of  fashionable 


12  FIRST  BATTLES. 

pleasure-seekers ;  live  for  sensual  de- 
lights, smother  your  conscience  with 
bank-notes,  and  laugh  at  the  puritanical 
ravings  of  modern  faddists  and  philan- 
thropic cranks."  The  man  who  is 
caught  by  this  temptation  seldom  escapes. 
He  gambles  and  plunges  furiously,  and 
tries  to  get  rich  by  rapid  and  unrighteous 
means.  He  becomes  selfish  and  cynical 
and  dishonest,  winks  at  falsehood,  laughs 
at  license,  is  unscrupulous  in  his  passion  for 
wealth  and  position,  and,  almost  without 
knowing  it,  the  poor  fellow  has  sunk  into 
the  uttermost  depths  of  cowardice  and 
vice.  There  is,  however,  an  ambition 
which  is  noble  and  commendable,  but  it 
is  ruled  by  love,  guarded  by  honesty,  and 
sanctified  by  a  generous  goodwill  towards 
men.  The  best  ambition  is  the  ambition 
to  be  good  and  brave  and  true.  Let  us 
not  be  at  the  beck  and  call  of  every  pass- 
ing fancy.  Let  us  earnestly  and  cour- 
ageously perform  the  task  intrusted  to  us, 


MONE  y  AND  MORA LS.  13 

however  lowly  it  may  be,  and  however 
inadequate  its  reward.  To  us  it  may 
seem  the  dreariest  drudgery,  but  when 
we  do  it  well  and  cheerfully  for  Christ's 
sake,  even  drudgery  becomes  divine. 

Many  years  ago  Charles  Kingsley,  as 
"Parson  Lot,"  inaugurated  a  valiant 
crusade  against  the  mammon  worship  of 
his  day.  Of  course  he  met  with  the 
bitter  and  virulent  hostility  of  all  who 
loved  money  more  than  justice  and 
brotherly  love.  But  he  earned  an  undy- 
ing reputation  as  the  friend  and  champion 
of  humanity.  We  want  another  "  Parson 
Lot"  in  these  days  to  teach  us  that  money 
is  not  a  thing  to  be  played  with  at  the 
will  of  its  possessor.  Nothing  will  help  so 
much  to  solve  certain  modern  problems  as 
the  dissemination  of  Bible  teaching  regard- 
ing money.  The  idea  of  the  Bible  is  dis- 
tinctly that  of  stewardship.  The  money 
you  put  away  in  the  bank  is,  in  a  limited 
and  mechanical  sense,  your  own  property. 


14  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

But  looked  at  from  the  higher  and  more. 
Christian  standpoint,  it  is  not  yours  at  all. 
It  is  given  to  you  as  a  trusty  not  as  a  pos- 
session. If  that  great  and  unassailable 
principle  could  prevail  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  men,  gambling  would  be  anni- 
hilated once  and  for  all.  Because  the  old 
stock  argument  in  favor  of  betting — it 
generally  comes  from  flabby,  unhealthy 
young  men  of  dissipated  life  and  restricted 
intellect — is  this :  "  Oh,  but  you  know, 
old  fellow,  a  man  can  do  as  he  likes  with 
his  own  money."  Certainly;  I  grant  that 
entirely.  But  the  fact  is  that  the  money 
is  not  yours.  God  has  placed  it  in  your 
hands  for  fifty  or  sixty  years,  and  there 
will  come  a  day  of  reckoning  when  He 
will  want  to  know  what  good  you  have 
accomplished,  what  poverty  you  have 
relieved  and  what  evil  you  have  destroyed 
by  the  powerful  and  influential  gift  which 
He  intrusted  in  your  keeping.  One 
hardly  likes  to  think  what  the  result  will 


MONE  V  AND  MORALS.  1 5 

be  when  you  have  to  confess  that  you 
tossed  the  gold  to  the  devil — that  you 
flung  it  away  at  poker  or  that  you  handed 
it  to  some  rascally  poolseller. 

It  is  impossible  to  write  of  money  and 
morals  without  protesting  against  the 
biggest  curse  of  modern  times.  Nothing 
is  more  calculated  to  turn  the  smiling 
optimist  into  a  despairing  pessimist  than 
the  incalculable  ruin  which  is  being 
wrought  every  day  by  betting  and  gam- 
bling. This  is  undoubtedly  the  most  seri- 
ous and  difficult  problem  with  which 
Christian  reformers  have  to  grapple.  So 
far  we  have  scarcely  touched  it.  There 
have  been  long  and  wordy  discussions,  a 
great  deal  of  purposeless  chatter  has  been 
poured  forth  in  speeches  and  leading  arti- 
cles, and  still  we  seem  to  make  no  prog- 
ress— we  are  engaged  in  the  useless  occu- 
pation of  beating  the  air.  Convocation 
will  not  untie  the  knot;  the  newsp^aper  is 
impotent  simply  because  it  is  implicated  ; 


i6  FIRST  BATTLES. 

and  Christian  men  are  too  apt  to  trust  to 
silvery  rhetoric  rather  than  to  stringent 
reform. 

The  fact  is,  that  nothing  very  helpful 
will  be  done  until  we  clear  our  minds  of 
cant.  The  practical  common-sense  of 
solemn  dignitaries  who  fervently  de- 
nounce betting  and  then  sit  down  to  play 
whist  for  dime  points  is  somewhat  difficult 
to  detect.  The  wisdom  of  arresting  one 
gambler  and  asking  another  to  open  a 
church  bazaar  is  scarcely  perceptible  to 
the  man  in  the  street.  Betting  is  fashion- 
able ;  the  gambler  is  a  respected,  or  at 
least  a  tolerated,  individual,  and  even  the 
great  mass  of  Christian  men  and  women 
have  not  yet  had  their  eyes  opened  to 
the  awful  havoc  caused  by  this  passion- 
ate lust  for  gain.  When  they  see  how  it 
robs  men  of  character,  health,  and  friends ; 
when  they  reaHze  that  horse-racing  has 
more  votaries  than  any  religion  ;  then, 
I    believe,    they    will    rise    up    and    de- 


MONEY  AND  MORALS.  17 

nounce  it  fearlessly.  The  literature  of 
the  turf  is  enormous  in  extent  and  world- 
wide in  influence.  It  provides  a  risky 
excitement  for  the  rich  and  a  hideous 
fever  for  the  poor.  It  shows  men  how 
to  get  hold  of  their  neighbors'  property 
without  giving  any  honest  equivalent, 
which  means,  in  plain  English^  that  it 
makes  men  thieves. 

It  is  simply  alarming  to  contemplate 
the  extent  to  which  the  deadly  contagion 
is  spreading  through  the  country.  Boys 
bet;  young  men  neglect  the  beauties  of 
literature  for  the  "  tips "  of  sporting 
papers  ;  and  scarcely  an  office  is  without 
its  sweep-stake  on  the  Derby  or  the  boat- 
race.  This  vice  controls  its  victims  with 
a  fascination  which  is  absolutely  devilish, 
and  the  unutterable  ruin  which  it  inevi- 
tably works  is  almost  heartbreaking. 
I  therefore  call  upon  every  earnest,  manly, 
Christian  fellow  to  do  all  he  can  to  stamp 
out    this    degrading     and     unchivalrous 


i8  FIRST  BATTLES. 

habit.  For  this  two  reasons  are  suffi- 
cient: —  (i)  It  must  be  wrong  to  accept 
money  for  which  you  have  given  nothing 
in  return ;  and  (2)  it  is  the  very  essence 
of  selfishness  to  use,  as  Kingslcy  says, 
*'  what  you  fancy  your  superior  knowl- 
edge of  a  horse's  merits  to  your  neigh- 
bor's harm."  "  Work  faithfully,"  says 
Mr.  Ruskin,  "  and  you  will  put  yourself 
in  possession  of  a  glorious  and  enlarging 
happiness ;  not  such  as  can  be  won  by 
the  speed  of  a  horse  or  marred  by  the 
obliquity  of  a  ball." 

All  thoughtful  and  observant  men  must 
admit  that  materialism  is  the  dominant 
peril  of  our  age.  As  young  men,  there- 
fore, we  must  be  on  our  guard.  Wealth 
is  a  useful  servant  when  guarded  by  char- 
ity and  wisdom,  but  it  is  a  tyrannical  mas- 
ter, and  holds  its  subjects  in  galling  and 
miserable  servitude.  Christ  never  thought 
much  of  money.  The  most  hopeless  and 
melancholy    characters    He    ever    drew 


MONEY  AND  MORALS.  19 

were  rich  men.  His  Gospel  teaches  us 
that  character  is  more  than  circumstances 
— a  clean  heart  better  than  a  big  check- 
book. Bacon  has  called  riches  "  the  bag- 
gage of  virtue."  "As  baggage  is  to  an 
army,"  he  says,  "so  is  riches  to  virtue;  it 
cannot  be  spared  or  left  behind,  but  it 
hindereth  the  march.  Of  great  riches 
there  is  no  real  use,  except  it  be  in  the 
distribution;  the  rest  is  but  conceit."  I 
have  heard  of  a  very  w^ealthy  merchant, 
vv^ho,  attending  church  one  night,  w^as 
greatly  impressed  by  the  words  of  Christ, 
"  A  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  They  lingered  in 
his  memory,  and  for  years  his  rest  was 
broken  and  his  peace  disturbed  by  this 
discomforting  thought,  ''^  Shall  hardly 
enter?'*  Let  us  frankly  confess  then  that 
if  we  have  given  our  hearts  over  to  mam- 
mon worship,  we  have,  to  say  the  least  of 
it,  made  a  tremendous  mistake.  The 
millionaire  is  not  always   the    successful 


20  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

man.  The  richest  merchant  in  the  city 
may  in  reahty  be  poorer  than  his  meanest 
servant.  For  all  the  money  on  earth 
cannot  compensate  for  a  starved  soul,  a 
narrow  mind,  a  limited  outlook,  and  a  life 
that  confers  no  blessing  on  humanity. 
*' Chinese"  Gordon  w^as  comparatively 
poor,  but  he  achieved  vsrhat  was  better 
than  all  the  fortunes  of  all  the  world's 
millionaires  put  together — a  Christ-like 
character  and  a  noble  life-work.  Who 
would  not  infinitely  prefer  to  be  Gordon 
with  empty  pockets  than  the  richest  gam- 
bler in  the  land? 

Over  the  triple  doorways  of  the  cathe- 
dral of  Milan  there  are  three  inscriptions 
spanning  the  splendid  arches.  Over  one 
is  carved  a  wreath  of  roses  with  the 
legend,  "All  that  which  pleases  is  but  for 
a  moment."  Over  the  other  is  sculptured 
a  cross  accompanied  by  the  words,  "All 
that  which  troubles  is  but  for  a  moment." 
But  on  the  great  central  entrance  to  the 


MONEY  AND  MORALS.  21 

main  aisle  is  the  inscription,  "That  only 
is  important  which  is  eternal."  The  les- 
son is  obvious.  It  teaches  us  that  morals 
are  of  more  account  than  money,  and 
that  if  we  are  wise  we  shall  care  less  and 
less  for  the  passing  pageants  of  the  hour, 
for  the  gratification  of  our  frivolous  fan- 
cies, and  for  the  attainment  of  our  worldly 
ambitions.  We  shall  live  for  the  heav- 
enly, for  the  eternal,  for  the  service  of  the 
strong  and  tender  Christ,  whose  "well 
done "  is  more  to  be  desired  than  all  the 
plaudits  of  the  universe. 


II. 

WHAT   IS  A  GENTLE/nAN? 

And  thus  he  bore  ^without  abuse 
The  grand  old  name  of  gentleman^ 
Defamed  by  every  charlatan^ 

And  soiled  ■with  all  ignoble  use. 

— Tennyson. 

Never  imagine  that  the  swaggering  brag- 
gart can  move  the  world — he  is  as  feeble 
as  he  is  loud.  Jesus  Christ  was  the  strong- 
est man  who  ever  lived — and  the  gentlest. 
He  would  not  have  hurt  the  feelings  of  a 
child,  and  yet  He  could  conquer  hell. 
"He  opened  His  mouth  and  taught  them, 
saying,  Blessed  .  .  ."  That  was  the 
keynote  of  His  life.  He  was  always 
blessing  somebody — healing  the  sick, 
comforting  the  sad,  cheering  the  weary, 
raising  the  dead;  His  life  was  one  long 
series  of  kindly,  brotherly  actions.  And 
yet,  how  He  could  burn  with  moral  indig- 
nationl     The  same  Christ  who  was  ten- 

(22) 


WIfA  T  IS  A  GENTLEMAN?        23 

der  and  gentle  and  forgiving  to  the  sinners 
who  were  tired  of  the  dreary  heartache 
of  their  useless  lives,  and  longed  to  be 
better  and  do  better,  could  denounce  the 
hypocrites  of  His  day  as  "  a  generation  of 
vipers."  We  must  -rid  ourselves  of  the 
popular  delusion  that  tenderness  denotes 
weakness.  It  doesn't.  Bullies  are  weak 
— gentlemen  are  strong.  The  braggart  is 
impotent;  the  empty  noise  of  his  braying 
is  quickly  exhausted,  and  then  he  is  used 
up  and  has  nothing  to  go  on  with.  The 
man  who  endures  and  overcomes  is  the 
man  who  follows  Christ  •  in  His  sweet 
reasonableness  of  temper  and  thought  and 
action. 

What  is  a  gentleman?  First  of  all,  let 
me  tell  you  what  he  is  not.  He  is  not 
that  well-known  youth,  with  vacant,  lamb- 
like expression,  gorgeous  necktie  of  many 
colors,  immense  cuffs,  large  trousers,  tiny 
shoes,  and  a  buttonhole  of  huge  dimen- 
sions.    He  is  not  the  kind  of  young  man 


24  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 


whom  Charlotte  Bronte  once  described 
as  "pretty-looking  and  pretty-behaved, ap- 
parently constructed  without  a  backbone, 
by  which  I  don't  allude  to  his  corporal 
spine,  which  is  all  right  enough,  but  to 
his  character."  We  ^11  know  this  nerve- 
less automaton.  He  is  destitute  of  one 
throbbing  impulse  or  lofty  ideal.  King- 
doms might  crash,  empires  might  totter 
and  fall — he  soars  above  such  trifles,  and 
views  them  with  stately  unconcern.  The 
only  matters  which  trouble  him  are  the 
straightness  of  his  necktie,  the  smoothness 
of  his  hair,  and  the  whiteness  of  his  cuffs. 
One  day  somebody  suggests  that  lawn 
tennis  is  a  nice,  gentle  game,  and  this 
amiable  youth  becomes  quite  interested. 
Of  course  he  "hasn't  an  idea  how  to 
play,"  but  he  knocks  the  balls  about  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  and  is  ill  with  exhaus- 
tion for  a  week  afterwards.  In  company 
he  is  silent,  hoping,  perhaps,  that  his  rav- 
ishing beauty  may  make  up  for  his  help- 


WHA  T  IS  A  GENTLEMAN?        25 

less  taciturnity.  He  is  too  modest  to  sing 
a  song,  too  lazy  to  learn  an  instrument, 
too  dignified  to  ride  a  bicycle,  too  stiff  to 
run  a  race,  too  noble  to  stoop  to  the  clam- 
or of  debate  or  the  jealousies  of  journ- 
alism, and  much  too  prudent  to  venture 
on  any  more  dogmatic  assertion  than 
"Nith  day  after  the  wain."  The  incon- 
venient question  was  asked  one  day  con- 
cerning a  man  of  this  caliber,  "What  can 
he  do?"  Well,  truth  to  tell,  he  can  look 
ladylike,  behave  beautifully,  curl  his  hair 
to  perfection,  and  pose  for  a  photograph 
— rare  accomplishments,  which,  in  a  more 
advanced  age,  might  perhaps  win  for  him 
respect  and  admiration.  Let  us  do  him 
justice,  however;  he  is  vain  but  not  vi- 
cious, puny  but  not  prodigal,  languid  but 
never  licentious,  though  certain  cynics 
have  suggested  that  he  is  mildly  respecta- 
ble only  because  he  lacks  the  pluck  to  be 
madly  riotous.  It  is  an  old  saying  and  a 
true  one  that  "  Fine  feathers  do  not  make 


26  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

fine  birds."  A  decorated  donkey  is  a 
donkey  still.  The  slaves  of  nineteenth 
century  masherdom  may  be  exquisitely 
beautiful,  but  they  are  not  gentlemen  in 
the  noblest  sense  of  the  word. 

No  ;  ladylikeness  of  exterior  and  a  sort 
of" got-  up  -  regardless  -  of-  expense  "  ap- 
pearance are  not  the  outward  and  visible 
signs  of  gentlemanliness.  Some  of  the 
roughest  and  most  erratic  men  possess 
the  truest  hearts  and  the  tenderest  spirits. 
I  shall  always  feel  intensely  grateful  that 
the  blind  and  blundering  Peter  was  one 
of  the  disciples,  for  it  shows  that  Jesus 
Christ  can  sympathize  with  men  who  are 
recklessly  enthusiastic.  Some  of  the  most 
useful,  genial,  and  delightful  men  I  have 
ever  met  have  been  impetuous  Peters — 
true  and  honest  disciples,  but  afflicted 
with  the  unhappy  knack  of  occasionally 
doing  the  right  thing  in  the  wrong  way. 
They  seem  to  possess  every  other  virtue 
except  caution  and  prudence.     And  yet 


WHAT  IS  A  GENTLEMAN?        27 

what  a  gentleman  this  erratic  kind  of  fel- 
low sometimes  is  I  How  sunny  his 
smile,  how  loving  his  heart,  how  honest 
his  voice,  how  firm  the  grip  of  his  hand, 
and,  alas  !  how  unreliable  his  promises  I 
Write  him  a  long  and  important  letter, 
and  insist  in  several  postscripts  on  an 
immediate  reply.  You  may,  by  means 
of  unusually  favorable  circumstances  or 
a  wet  day,  receive  an  answer  within  a 
week  ;  but  it  is  more  likely  that  after 
many  days  he  will  be  surprised  by  finding 
your  letter  in  an  odd  corner,  and  write  off 
an  apologetic  but  almost  illegible  postcard. 
We  all  know  the  man,  nimble-minded, 
keen-witted,  and  apparently  reckless,  al- 
ways eager  to  listen  to  a  new  story,  al- 
ways read)^  with  a  good  yarn  in  return. 
He  has  boundless  energy,  never-failing 
vivacity,  and  a  heart  that  overflows  with 
love.  There  is  no  game  or  recreation 
that  he  does  not  dabble  in.  He  can  ride 
any  kind  of  cycle,  he  revels  in   cricket, 


28  FIRST  BATTLES. 

and  he  can  swim  like  a  duck.  But  he 
flies  from  one  to  the  other  with  the  most 
delightful  inconsistency,  one  day  perspir- 
ing at  lawn  tennis,  a  week  later  rowing 
as  if  for  dear  life,  and  anon  ready  to  enter 
into  an  ardent  dispute  with  any  man  who 
dares  to  assert  that  gymnastics  do  not  form 
the  best  exercise  in  the  world.  In  one 
word,  he  is  a  rocket — he  may  go  up,  he 
may  splutter  and  fall.  If  he  does  go  up 
there  is  sure  to  be  a  brilliant  display,  for 
his  ability  is  undeniable,  and  his  career  is 
only  hindered  from  being  a  conspicuous 
success  by  his  erratic  and  disorderly 
methods.  But  look  at  him  and  tell  me 
if  he  is  not  a  gentleman.  See  how  he 
dries  the  falling  tear  ;  observe  how  read- 
ily he  bears  the  bitterest  inconvenience 
in  order  to  do  a  service  for  a  man  who  is 
*'down" ;  notice  how  he  stints  himselt 
that  he  may  help  any  prodigal  who  hap- 
pens to  be  "hard  up"  ;  see  how  the  tiny 
children    love   this  great-hearted,  merry, 


WNA  T  IS  A  GENTLEMAN  f        29 

boyish  fellow,  climbing  all  over  him,  ca- 
ressing his  rough  face,  and  pulling  his 
grizzly  beard.  Yes,  this  man  knows 
something  of  the  gentlemanly  Carpenter 
of  Nazareth,  or  he  could  not  be  so  re- 
freshingly frank,  so  transparently  sincere, 
so  sublimely  unselfish.  After  all,  I  would 
rather  have  the  rugged  warmth  of  a  fire- 
work than  the  prim  and  pompous  frigidity 
of  an  iceberg. 

But  let  us  come  to  close  quarters,  and 
inquire  into  some  of  the  indispensable 
characteristics  of  a  gentleman.  In  the 
first  place,  he  is  brimming  over  with 
brotherliness.  Not  only  is  this  the  first 
indication  of  gentlemanliness — it  is  the 
very  essence  and  heart  of  true  Christian- 
ity. The  Apostle  John  evidently  thought 
so,  for  he  said,  in  his  frank,  straightfor- 
ward way,  that  "If  a  man  say,  I  love 
God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is  a  liar  "; 
and  again,  "  Let  us  love  one  another,  for 
love  is  of  God  ;  and  every  one  that  loveth 


30  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

is  born  of  God  and  knoweth  God  ";  and 
then,  in  a  burst  of  indignation,  he  de- 
clares that  the  man  who  hates  his  brother 
is  a  murderer.  I  firmly  believe  that  the 
crowning  necessity  of  the  Church  to-day  is 
not  an  austere  and  unbending  Puritanism, 
but  a  large-hearted,  cheerful  spirit  of 
Christian  brotherliness.  While  we  have 
been  wasting  our  strength  in  drawing  up 
resolutions,  arranging  our  formulas,  and 
throttling  enthusiasm  with  red  tape,  the 
devil  has  been  winning  hosts  of  adherents 
by  means  of  cheerful  resorts,  bright  music, 
and  good  fellowship.  The  shallow  critic 
cannot  save  the  world — even  the  skillful 
theologian  cannot  do  it.  What  we  want 
is  sympathy.  There  are  men  who  have 
fallen  in  the  tragedy  of  life,  and,  bleeding 
and  forlorn,  they  need  the  hearty  hand- 
giasp,  the  friendly  help  ot  brotherly  men. 
We  must  cast  away  our  supercilious  self- 
conceit  and  our  chilling  cynicism.  We 
must  get  hold  of  those  who  have  been  over- 


WNA  T  IS  A  GENTLEMAN?        31 

come  of  evil,  and  cheer  them  with  words 
of  hope,  and  encourage  them  to  begin  a 
better  life.  We  must  treat  with  infinite 
tenderness  bewildered,  misguided,  un- 
happy souls  who  have  blundered  and 
fallen,  and  are  gradually  sinking  into 
despair.  Such  men  will  be  repulsed  by  a 
tract,  they  will  resent  an  arrogant  inquisi- 
tion into  their  intellectual  eccentricities. 
But  we  may  love  them  to  Christ.  We  may 
gently  succor  them  from  their  evil  selves 
and  show  them  the  noble  character, 
the  mysterious  self-sacrifice,  and  the 
resistless  power  of  Him  who  was  the 
Friend  and  Savior  of  thieves  and  harlots. 
All  brotherhness  must  begin  at  the  Cross. 
Inspired  by  the  supreme  revelation  of  the 
Father's  love,  we  shall  lose  our  unworthy 
pride,  our  reckless  ambition,  and  our  false 
notions  of  respectability,  and  learn  the  first 
lesson  of  gentlemanliness,  which  is  to  love 
our  brother  even  as  Christ  has  loved  us. 
Then  you  will  always  notice  that  a  gen- 


32  FIRST  BA  TTLES, 

tleman  possesses  a  dexterous  and  most  de- 
lightful tact.  I  think  it  was  Dr.  Culross 
who,  at  a  gathering  of  young  men,  gave 
an  admirable  example  of  this  quality. 
He  said  that  at  a  certain  breakfast  a  guest 
upset  a  cup,  and  its  contents  soiled 
the  cloth.  A  neighbor  quietly  placed  a 
vase  of  flowers  over  the  stain,  and  thus 
hid  the  blot  with  beauty.  Another  story 
occurs  to  ^me  about  General  Grant,  who 
avoided  taking  Lee's  presentation  sword 
at  the  capitulation  without  either  "  clumsy 
bluntness  or  caddish  showiness,"  simply 
by  adding  this  to  the  terms,  "  All  officers 
to  retain  their  side-arms."  A  third  ex- 
ample is  given  by  Mr.  R.  L.  Stevenson, 
who  reminds  us  of  how  Wellington, 
meeting  Marmont  years  after  Salamanca, 
was  asked  by  the  agreeable  marshal  his 
opinion  of  the  battle.  "I  early  per- 
ceived," was  his  gentle  reply,  "  that  your 
excellency  had  been  wounded."  I  men- 
tion  these    incidents  to,  explain  what   I 


WHAT  IS  A  GENTLEMAN?        33 

mean  by  a  "  dexterous  tact" — a  considera- 
tion for  the  feelings  of  others,  a  desire  to 
put  people  at  their  ease,  and  to  make  the 
best  of  a  trying  situation.  After  all,  this 
is  summed  up  in  the  Christian  law  of 
bearing  one  another's  burdens,  and  of 
doing  to  others  as  we  would  others  should 
do  to  us. 

But  if  we  imitate  the  gentlemanliness 
of  Jesus  we  shall  go  further,  we  shall  look 
for  the  good  in  men,  we  shall  try  to  ig- 
nore their  weaknesses,  and  our  judgments 
will  be  very  kind.  We  must  remember 
that  no  man  is  utterly  and  irretrievably 
bad.  We  all  have  a  good  side  to  our  char- 
acter— a  Dr.  Jekyll,  who  is  generous  and 
charitable  and  upright.  And  alas!  what 
life  is  not  embittered  and  hampered  by  a 
ghostly  Mr.  Hyde,  black  with  iniquity, 
terrible  with  hatred,  scorched  with  hell  I 
Hercules,  the  strong  man,  had  a  robe 
sent  to  him  poisoned  with  blood.  He 
put  it  on,  and  as  soon  as  it  became  warm 


34  FIRST  BATTLES. 

the  poison  entered  his  flesh ;  he  could 
not  tear  it  from  him,  and  he  died,  strong 
man  as  he  was.  The  evil  spirit  is  part  of 
us,  it  destroys  our  rest,  it  assails  us  at  oui 
weakest  points,  and  when  we  would  do 
good  there  is  the  desperate  and  deadly 
temptation  to  be  reckoned  with,  and 
sometimes  we  are  swept  along  before  the 
withering  blast  of  our  unrestrained  pas- 
sions. Life  is  a  mixed  quantity.  We 
are  bad  for  a  time,  then  we  rise  up  and 
declare  that  we  will  be  Christ's  men. 
We  pray  with  eager  desire  and  intense 
earnestness,  and  immediately  afterwards 
give  both  hands  to  the  devil.  One  day 
we  are  cursed  with  hideous  and  soul- 
haunting  thoughts,  and  the  very  next  day 
blessed  with  all  the  calm  of  heaven's 
peace.  Our  life  is  a  maze,  a  tangled 
mystery,  a  grim  tragedy.  The  great  les- 
son to  be  learnt  from  this  duality  of  pur- 
pose is  that  no  character  is  altogether 
bad.     The  worst  part  of  a   man's  nature 


WHA  T  IS  A  GENTLEMAN f        35 

may  have  caught  our  attention,  and  we 
instantly  condemn  him  as  a  most  hopeless 
and  degraded  sinner.  What  blind  injus- 
tice I  He  may  all  the  time  be  fighting  a 
winning  battle  with  a  thousand  tempta- 
tions of  which  we  know  nothing.  So 
we  must  cultivate  a  gentlemanly  kindness 
in  our  criticisms,  knowing  that  we  shall 
often  experience  the  pain  of  defeat  ere 
we  know  the  glory  of  ultimate  victory. 

Among  other  unmistakable  indications 
of  true  gentlemanliness  are  chivalry  and 
unselfishness.  He  is  no  gentleman,  but 
the  meanest  and  most  contemptible  of 
creatures,  who  is  unclean  in  thought  and 
unchaste  in  life.  One  of  the  most  re- 
markable characteristics  of  gentlemanli- 
ness lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  not  so  very 
far  removed  from  womanliness.  It  has  a 
sacred  modesty,  a  tender  regard  and  re- 
spect for  weakness  and  loneliness  and  in- 
feriority, a  deep  and  genuine  reverence 
for  the  innocence  and  purity  of  woman- 


36  FIRST  BA  TTLES, 

hood.  But,  you  say,  how  about  manli- 
ness ?  I  reply  by  asking  another  ques- 
tion. Do  you  know  what  manliness 
means  ?  It  signifies  virtue.  When 
Garfield  said,  "  I  shall  try  and  become  a 
man  ;  if  I  do  not  succeed  in  that  I  shall 
be  good  for  nothing,"  he  did  not  mean 
that  his  ambition  was  to  be  merely  big 
and  boisterous  and  robust,  he  desired  to 
become  gentle  and  strong  and  good. 
Vice  is  no  mark  of  cleverness  or  manli- 
ness. It  is  a  shameful,  devilish  thing  that 
scars  the  soul,  wounds  the  heart,  rends 
the  whole  life  asunder,  and  turns  the  fu- 
ture into  darkness. 

There  is  one  other  mark  of  the  highest 
Christian  gentlemanhness — it  absolutely 
prohibits  sickening  personalities  in  con- 
versation. *'There  are  times,"  says  Dr. 
John  Hall,  "when  we  are  compelled  to 
say,  *  I  do  not  think  Bouncer  is  a  true  and 
honest  man.'  But  where  there  is  no 
need   to   express   an    opinion,   let    poor 


WHAT  IS  A  GENTLEMAN?        n 

Bouncer  swagger  away.  Others  will 
take  his  measure  no  doubt,  and  save  you 
the  trouble  of  analyzing  him  and  instruct- 
ing them."  The  gentlemanly  thing  to  do 
is  to  dwell  as  much  as  possible  on  the 
best  side  of  human  nature.  Healthy 
men  will  not  wish  to  dine  at  a  dissecting 
table.  Instead  of  retailing  petty  gossip 
about  people,  and  criticising  small  mis- 
takes, and  exaggerating  trifling  defects, 
rise  higher,  speak  of  nobler  things,  man- 
lier thoughts,  loftier  objects,  and  try  and 
keep  the  atmosphere  pure  and  fragrant 
with  charity  and  brotherly  love.  Per- 
haps it  has  not  occurred  to  you  that  to 
ridicule  or  slander  an  absent  man  is  the 
most  vulgar  and  cowardly  thing  you  can 
do.  The  Apostle  has  told  us  that  "  the 
tongue  is  a  fire,"  and  we  know  it  is  so. 
Nothing  stabs  so  deep  as  slanderous  and 
bitter  words.  Avoid  suspicion,  resent- 
ment, subtle  and  base  insinuations,  and 
scorn  to  indulge  in  unwholesome  gossip  ; 


38  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

for,  as  Cardinal  Newman  wisely  said,  the 
true  gentleman  "  has  no  ears  for  slander, 
never  takes  an  unfair  advantage,  and  in- 
terprets everything  for  the  best." 


III. 

HOW  TO  BE  INSlGNiriCANT. 

Honor  and  shame  from  no  condition  rise  ; 

Act  -well  your  part,  there  all  the  honor  lies. — Pope. 

"  To  be  at  ivork,  to  do  things  for  the  -world,  to  turn  the 
currents  of  the  things  about  us  at  our  -will,  to  make 
our  existence  a  positive  element,  even  though  it  be  no 
bigger  than  a  grain  of  sand,  in  this  great  system 
■where  we  live, — that  is  a  new  joy  of  which  the  idle 
man  knows  no  more  than  the  mole  knows  of  the 
sunshine,  or  the  serpent  of  the  eagle's  triumphant 
flight  into  the  upper  air.  The  man  who  knows  indeed 
what  it  is  to  act,  to  work,  cries  out,  '  This,  this  alone  is 
to  live!  '  " — Phillips   Brooks. 

The  world  is  full  of  insignicant  peo- 
ple. They  are  born,  they  go  to  school, 
they  work,  they  eat,  they  sleep,  they 
talk — rather  frivolously,  they  live — very 
aimlessly,  and  one  day  they  die,  and  the 
world  is  not  much  the  poorer  because  of 
their  disappearance.  A  few  men  strug- 
gle to  the  front,  rise  beyond  the  humdrum 
level  of  the  crowd,  and  make  their  voices 
heard   above  the  common  clamor.     But 


40  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

as  for  the  rest,  they  are  insignificant. 
Why?  Because  it  is  the  easiest  thing  in 
the  world. 

Probably  the  surest  way  to  be  insignifi- 
cant is  to  inherit  wealth.  It  is  generally 
the  greatest  possible  curse  for  a  man  to 
begin  life  in  opulence.  It  ties  his  hands, 
lowers  his  ambition,  and  narrows  his  sym- 
pathies. He  is  fettered  by  fashion,  and 
bound  tightly  by  the  conventional  preju- 
dices of  society.  He  will  not  succeed  in 
journaHsm,  for  he  cannot  bend  his  back 
to  begin  with  the  daily  drudgery.  He 
will  hardly  consent  to  soil  his  hands  in 
trade  ;  and  as  for  science  and  art,  why 
should  he  endure  the  long  toil  and  severe 
training  of  the  student  when  he  can  oc- 
cupy the  pleasurable  position  of  the  pa- 
tron ?  Except  in  a  few  remarkable  cases, 
the  young  man  who  enters  on  life's 
tragedy  to  the  music  of  jingling  gold 
plays  an  insignificant  part,  far  from 
danger,   and    therefore    far  from    honor. 


HOU^  TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT.     41 

My  brother,  be  extremely  thankful  if  you 
are  thrown  entirely  on  your  own  re- 
sources. Many  of  the  men  who  have 
won  the  highest  success  in  commerce  and 
science  and  art,  many  of  the  boldest  re- 
formers, most  brilliant  writers,  and  most 
forceful  orators,  have  been  men  who 
commenced  life  without  a  penny  in  their 
pockets.  One  of  the  best  men  I  have 
ever  known  once  thoughtlessly  sneered 
at  a  young  journalist  because  he  lacked 
the  supposed  advantage  of  a  college  edu- 
cation. He  did  not  know  that  the  suc- 
cessful journaHsts  in  the  city  of  London 
this  day  who  can  put  B.A.  after  their 
names  can  be  comfortably  counted  on  the 
fingers  of  one  hand.  The  smartestjour- 
nalist  in  that  city  to-day  had  no  schooling 
after  he  reached  twelve  years  of  age,  ex- 
cept what  he  gained  by  his  own  unaided 
efforts.  It  may  seem  the  strangest  para- 
dox, but  it  is  nevertheless  a  simple  unde- 
niable fact;  that  poverty   is  often  one  of 


42  FIRS  T  BA  TTLES. 

the  greatest  blessings  a  man  can  have  in 
beginning  his  career.  It  nerves  him  for 
the  battle,  it  hinders  self-indulgence,  and 
it  is  a  sure  preventive  of  laziness. 

Another  certain  method  of  acquiring 
insignificance  is  a  love  of  ease.  "Any- 
thing for  a  quiet  life"  is  the  motto  which 
has  ruined  the  prospects  of  thousands. 
The  man  who  is  content  to  exist — the 
man  who  says  that  work  is  an  excellent 
thing,  and  he  would  rather  enjoy  a  short 
spell  of  it,  but  he  feels  that  "  to  work  be- 
tween meals  is  not  good  for  the  diges- 
tion"— that  man  will  always ^e  miserably 
small  and  contemptibly  insignificant. 
You  have  got  to  clitnb  the  ladder  of  life — 
there  is  no  elevator  to  take  you  up.  There 
are  prizes  to  be  had,  but  you  must  ivin 
them — they  will  not  drop  into  your  hands. 
Do  you  wish  to  avoid  insignificance  and 
rise  to  some  nobler  height  of  work  and 
character  and  attainment  ?  Then  you 
must  be  ready  not  only  to  take  opportu- 


HOW.  TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT.      43 

nities,  but  to  make  them.  You  must  be 
trenuous  in  effort,  dogged  in  persever- 
ance, indomitable  in  courage,  and  cheer- 
ful and  alert  in  mind.  When  Cromwell 
was  asked  to  postpone  an  enterprise  and 
"wait  till  the  iron  was  hot,"  he  bravely 
replied  that  he  would  make  the  iron  hot 
by  striking  it.  That  is  the  dauntless 
spirit  we  want  to-day — the  spirit  which 
laughs  at  difficulty,  and  is  not  to  be 
turned  aside  from  its  ambition  by  all  the 
amiable  warnings  of  prudence  or  timidity. 
There  is  one  hymn  which  is  sometimes 
sung  at  revival  meetings — we  do  not 
hear  it  so  often  now.     It  begins — 

Oh,  to  be  nothing,  nothing. 

Now  if  that  is  your  ambition,  you  can 
easily  gratify  it.  Nothingness  is  soon 
achieved.  But  surely  no  young  man  with 
a  healthy  mind  and  a  Christ-like  spirit 
will  be  deceived  by  this  hideous  mockery 


44  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

and  caricature  of  true  humility.  To  want 
to  be  nothing  is  an  insult  to  the  God  who 
made  you.  Was  it  worth  while  bringing 
you  into  the  world  to  whine  and  cant 
about  being  nothing  ?  Rouse  yourself 
and  think !  God  has  surrounded  you 
with  a  wealth  of  privileges  and  an  infini- 
tude of  priceless  blessings.  You  inherit 
all  the  wisdom  and  genius  and  benevo- 
lence of  the  ages — riches  that  are  vast, 
golden,  immortal.  You  are  placed  within 
reach  of  the  noblest  possibilities ;  you 
have  all  the  help  and  advantage  which 
come  of  dwelling  in  a  Christian  and  civil- 
ized land ;  you  live  in  an  age  when  the 
zeal  and  ardor  and  strength  of  young 
men  are  greatly  in  demand,  and  when  the 
opportunities  for  usefulness  are  singularly 
favorable ;  and  yet  in  the  meanest,  lazi- 
est, most  spiritless  fashion  you  ask  to  be 
"  nothing,  nothing."  Give  up,  once  for 
all,  this  cowardly  and  characterless  whim- 
pering.     Be    something.      Be    a    man  I 


HOW  TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT.      45 

Shake  off  your  dull  sloth  and  rise  to  a 
nobler  life.  Do  you  murmur  about  the 
fierce  and  relentless  competition  ?  There 
is  no  competition  <3;/  the  top.  The  crowd 
is  at  the  bottom  ;  but  look  ahead,  battle 
forward,  fight  your  way  against  every 
difficulty,  valiantly  overcome  every  obsta- 
cle, and  by  the  time  you  have  climbed 
half-way  to  success  you  will  find  that  the 
throng  which  once  pressed  around  you 
begins  to  thin  and  disappear.  And  when 
by  skill  and  industry,  faith  and  fortitude, 
pluck  and  perseverence,  you  have  attained 
the  height  you  set  your  young  heart  on 
reaching,  you  will  discover  that  there  is 
no  competition  there — you  will  then  be 
able  to  dictate  your  own  terms,  and 
claim  the  adequate  reward  of  honest, 
skillful,  earnest  work. 

Yet  another  most  fruitful  cause  of  in- 
significance is  what  I  should  call  "  time- 
frittering."  Some  months  ago  several  of 
the    most   prominent  ministers   in    New 


46  FIRST  BATTLES. 

York  were  persuaded  to  give  their  views 
on  "The  Best  Use  of  Leisure,"  for  the 
guidance  of  young  men.  I  am  not  sure 
that  there  is  any  topic  of  much  greater 
importance  than  this,  for  you  can  generally 
tell  the  character  of  a  man  with  almost  in- 
fallible accuracy,  by  the  way  in  which  he 
uses  his  leisure  hours.  Time-frittering  is 
undoubtedly  the  besetting  sin  of  the  young 
men  of  to-day.  Thousands  of  fellows 
turn  with  horror  from  actual  dissipation. 
But  their  virtue  is  of  a  negative  and 
therefore  of  a  very  worthless  kind.  They 
abstain  from  evil,  but  they  never  do  any 
good.  The  worst  and  njost  costly  ex- 
travagance of  which  you  can  be  guilty  is 
to  throw  away  your  evenings.  They  are 
golden  opportunities  for  which  you  are 
responsible,  and  of  which  you  should 
make  the  best  and  highest  use.  One  of 
the  most  popular  of  our  writers  and  ora- 
tors was  once  asked  how  he  managed  to 
get  through  such  a  prodigious  amount  of 


HOW  TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT.     47 

work.  "  Simply  by  organizing  my  time," 
he  replied.  It  is  by  this  invaluable  habit 
of  organizing  your  leisure  hours  that  you 
will  be  able  to  "  wrestle  from  life  its  uses 
and  gather  from  life  its  beauty."  It  is  won- 
derful what  may  be  accomplished  by  de- 
voting the  evenings  to  some  useful  study 
or  helpful  recreation.  Earnest  and  per- 
sistent students  have  learnt  several  lan- 
guages in  the  odd  hours  of  a  busy  career. 
Never  be  afraid  of  giving  up  one  or  two 
nights  a  week  to  your  books.  "  Knowl- 
edge is  power "  all  the  world  over,  and 
what  you  learn  will  be  sure  to  come  in 
useful  one  day.  It  is  an  old  saying,  but 
I  may  repeat  it  with  advantage,  that 
"  Time-wasting  in  youth  is  one  of  the 
mistakes  which  are  beyond  correction." 
Let  me  mention  two  more  paths  to 
insignificance.  One  is  the  loss  of  a  good 
name.  A  blasted  reputation  will  carry 
you  into  nothingness  at  express  speed. 
Lose  your  character,  and  men  will  drop 


48  FIRST  BATTLES. 

you  with  stinging  promptitude,  and  you 
will  sink  into  the  lowest  depths  of  insig- 
nificance. Scarcely  anybody  will  want 
to  know  you — nobody  will  employ  you, 
and  only  a  few  Christ-Hke  souls  will  be 
ready  to  lend  you  a  helping  hand.  We 
are  too  apt  to  read  the  Bible  nowadays 
as  if  it  were  an  old-world  story,  which 
has  no  bearing  on  the  practical  matters 
of  everyday  business.  But  has  it  never 
struck  you  that  "  a  good  name  is  rather 
to  be  chosen  than  great  riches,"  even  as 
a  worldly  investment  ?  Punctuality,  con- 
centration of  effort,  ceaseless  energy,  and 
many  other  qualifications,  will  help  a 
man  forward  ;  but,  possessing  all  these, 
he  may  yet  be  a  miserable  failure 
if  he  has  not  a  good  name.  Character 
stands  for  a  good  deal,  even  in  these  days 
of  fraud  and  deceit.  A  band  of  thieves 
will  want  an  honest  treasurer,  and  men 
who  are  themselves  full  of  trickery  will 
appreciate  a  sturdy,  honest  character  in 


I/OtV  TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT.      49 

others.  The  young  man  whose  word 
cannot  be  relied  upon,  whose  honesty  is 
not  beyond  suspicion,  and  whose  personal 
life  is  not  clean,  will  search  in  vain  for  a 
position  in  the  business  world  to-day. 
Be  careful  that  you  never  lose  your  good 
name.  It  may  take  you  ten  or  twenty 
years  to  gain  a  high  and  spotless  reputa- 
tion, but  you  can  easily  destroy  it  in  ten 
minutes  ;  and  a  man  who  has  once  proved 
himself  unworthy  to  be  trusted  will  find 
it  an  almost  helpless  task  to  win  back 
confidence  and  regard.  He  may  even 
possess  influence,  and  family  position,  and 
hosts  of  friends ;  but  the  way  upward 
will  be  hard  and  thorny,  because  he  once 
surrendered  his  reputation.  Be  on  your 
guard,  be  watchful  and  vigilant ;  let  him 
that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest 
he  fall.  Count  your  good  name  as  a 
possession  above  price,  and  by  the  strong 
help  of  your  Father  God,  never  permit  it 
to  soiled  or   sullied.     Honesty  is    better 


50  FIRST  B A  TTLES. 

than  brilliance ;    purity  and    uprightness 
are  greater  than  dash  and  cleverness. 

I  must  refer  to  one  other  way  in  which 
you  may  become  insignificant — it  is  by 
turning  your  back  on  God.  Do  that, 
and  although  you  are  decorated  with  all 
the  tinsel  honors  of  the  world,  your  sel- 
fish, shrivelled,  narrow  little  soul  will  be  a 
daily  torment  to  you.  The  foundation  of 
all  true  success  is  an  unswerving  fidelity 
to  the  highest  religious  principle.  I  like 
to  think  of  George  Moore — the  uncouth 
country  boy  —  going  to  London  with 
little  education,  less  money,  and  no  intro- 
duction ;  indeed,  with  nothing  but  a  brave 
heart  and  a  fervent  trust  in  his  God.  At 
first  he  met  with  the  keenest  disappoint- 
ments, but  his  manly  courage  never  gave 
way.  He  was  determined  not  to  sink 
into  nothingness  and  insignificance.  He 
pushed,  and  prayed,  and  persevered,  and 
the  opening  soon  came,  as  it  always  does 
to  vigorous  and  high-minded  fellows,  and 


HOW  TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT.      51 

after  some  years  George  Moore,  the  mer- 
chant prince,  was  giving  away  money  at 
the  rate  of  $80,000  a  year.  He  would 
not  have  achieved  this  if  he  had  been 
a  thoughtless,  shiftless,  lounging  ne'er- 
do-well.  The  great  secret  of  his  won- 
derful success  was  his  simple  unaffected 
piety.  Men  trusted  him  implicitly  be- 
cause of  his  genuine  godliness.  Brothers, 
never  imagine  for  a  moment  that  Chris- 
tianity is  a  vapid,  fastidious,  sentimental 
thing.  The  truest  heroes  have  been  the 
truest  Christians.  Think  of  Paul  and 
Luther,  and  Havelock  and  Gordon,  Gen- 
eral Lee  and  strong,  noble,  manly  souls, 
unfettered  by  guile  or  meanness,  unfal- 
tering in  their  transparent  sincerity  of 
character,  and  in  their  unbending  loyalty 
to  truth.  Believe  me,  nothing  will  do  so 
much  to  save  a  man  from  insignificance 
as  a  chivalrous,  upright  character,  and  a 
simple,  stalwart  faith  in  God. 


S2  FIRST  BATTLES. 

Go  forth  'mong  men,  not  mailed  in  scorn, 

But  in  the  armor  of  a  pure  intent  ; 

Great  duties  are  before  you,  and  great  aims, 

And  whether  crowned  or  crownless  when  you  fall, 

It  matters  not,  so  be  God's  work  is  done. 


IV. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  Or  PLEASURE. 

"  We  must  deal  with  pleasures  as  ive  do  -with  honey,  only 
touch  them  tvith  the  tip  of  the  finger,  and  not  with 
the  -whole  hand,  for  fear  of  surfeit''' — Venerable 
Bede. 

"  They  came  to  a  delicate  plain  called  Ease,  where  they 
went  with  much  content,  but  that  plain  was  but  narrow, 
so  they  were  quickly  got  over  it." — Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress. 

Pleasure  is  the  most  uncertain  thing  in 
the  world.  That  which  gives  one  man 
a  glow  of  genuine  happiness  is  to  another 
man  nothing  but  unutterable  weariness. 
And  more  remarkable  still,  that  which 
bores  a  man  at  one  time  will  delight  him 
at  another.  But  the  strangest  character- 
istic of  pleasure  is  this  :  that  it  is  not  to  be 
bought  with  money,  or  acquired  by  effort, 
or  secured  by  influence.  *'  Fly  pleasure," 
says  Shakespeare,  "  and  it  will  follow 
thee."  And  we  may  well  add,  "  Pursue 
it,  and  it  will  utterly  fade  away."     Pleas- 

(63) 


54  FIRST  BATTLES. 

ures  are  transitory,  mysterious,  and,  to  a 
large  extent,  dangerous.  They  are  dan- 
gerous in  this  sense,  that  they  need  to  be 
governed,  restrained,  and  Hmited  by  wis- 
dom, by  piety,  and  by  Christian  sagacity. 
The  transient  and  evanescent  nature 
of  pleasure  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  half 
the  enjoyment  of  life  is  in  anticipation. 
How  the  keen,  shrewd  man  of  business 
revels  in  his  work  1  To  him  it  is  full  of 
romance,  interest,  and  excitement.  He 
has  made  up  his  mind  to  succeed,  to  at- 
tain a  high  reputation,  to  build  up  a  great 
career,  and  to  earn  a  fortune.  Now  look 
ahead.  He  has  completed  his  task  and 
retired  from  work.  All  his  desires  are 
more  than  fulfilled,  and  life  would  seem 
to  be  a  garden  of  beauty  and  comfort  and 
unsullied  joy.  That  is  where  you  are 
mistaken.  He  is  miserable.  He  has 
acquired  a  huge  fortune,  but  his  happiest 
days  were  spent  in  making  it ;  and  he 
would  give  a  good  deal  to  be  back  in  the 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  PLEASURE.      55 

dingy  little  city  office,  where  he  planned 
his  campaigns  and  enjoyed  his  triumphs. 
All  the  pleasure,  you  see,  was  in  the 
anticipation. 

This  is  often  the  case,  also,  in  planning 
a  hoHday.  For  weeks  beforehand  you 
spend  long  hours  in  poring  over  guide- 
books, studying  time-tables,  working  out 
routes,  and  interviewing  tourist  agents. 
What  a  time  you  are  going  to  enjoy  I 
And  when  the  tour  begins,  you  wonder 
what  you  left  home  for.  Was  it  to  see 
this  ?  Is  that  the  paradise  pictured  in 
the  guide-books  and  praised  in  the  rail- 
way advertisements  ?  It  is  grand,  cer- 
tainly ;  but  you  expected  so  much  more. 
All  the  pleasure  was  in  the  anticipation. 
So  when  you  visit  a  great  man,  you  look 
fowrard  with  eager  delight  to  the  match- 
less wit  and  the  lofty  wisdom  you  will 
gain  from  his  lips.  And  when  the  inter- 
view is  over,  you  are  asking  to  what 
accident  that  man    owes    his  reputation. 


56  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

He    was    positively  dull ;    and    yet    the 
world  hangs  upon  his  utterances. 

Superficial  as  pleasure  is,  it  occupies  a 
very  large  and  prominent  part  in  life. 
Men  will  do  for  pleasure  what  nothing 
else  under  heaven  could  prevail  upon 
them  to  attempt.  See  the  athletic  young 
men  grinding  their  bicycles  up  a  steep  hill 
till  the  machines  groan  under  the  desper- 
ate and  painful  effort.  If  requested  by 
their  employers  to  work  with  half  this 
zeal  and  persistence,  they  would  promatly 
and  indignantly  resign.  See  the  dense 
swaying  mass  of  people  outside  a  theatre, 
clamoring  for  admission.  They  will  en- 
dure the  utmost  inconvenience  and  dis- 
comfort in  order  to  obtain  a  few  hours 
of  recreation.  The  love  of  pleasure  in- 
fluences the  masses  with  magnetic  effect. 
It  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say  that 
the  man  who  writes  a  popular  song  exerts 
a  greater  power  than  the  man  who  pro- 
duces a   thousand  sermons.     The    most 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  PLEASURE.       57 

brilliant  discourse  will  only  reach  a  few 
thousand  hearers ;  and  even  when  the 
press  gives  it  wings,  and  sends  it  flutter- 
ing through  ten  thousand  homes,  its  work 
is  still  limited.  But  think  of  the  immeas- 
urable power  of  song.  A  million  sermons 
would  not  reach  the  people  who  have 
been  influenced  by  the  "  Lost  Chord"  or 
the  "Better  Land." 

It  is  time  that  the  Church  took  her 
part  in  providing  rational  pleasures  for 
the  people.  Why  not  start  a  music-hall 
and  run  it  on  right  lines,  without  beer 
and  without  vulgarity  ?  Why  should 
Christianity  calmly  submit  to  be  outdone 
in  this  direction  ?  With  certain  classes 
the  Church  has  absolutely  no  chance.  Its 
doors  are  opened  on  fifty  days  in  the 
year,  but  the  theatres  and  the  music  halls 
are  busy  for  three  hundred  days  in  the 
year,  and  it  is  not  diflficult  for  the  devil  to 
outdo  in  six  nights  the  good  which  the 
Church  has  accompHshed  in  onet    We 


58  FIRST  BATTLES. 

want  some  one  to  do  for  the  people's 
amusements  what  the  London  Religious 
Tract  Society,  and  many  private  firms 
have  done  for  the  people's  literature.  In 
one  case  the  argument  is  this :  "  Here  are 
bad  books  that  stir  np  evil  passions,  dis- 
seminate degrading  thoughts,  and  work 
the  ruin  of  the  people.  Now  books  are 
not  in  themselves  bad.  Let  us  therefore 
provide  good  reading,  that  shall  be  as 
interesting  and  attractive  as  the  bad ; 
reading  that  shall  be  pure  but  not  puri- 
tanical, mildly  exciting  but  not  contamin- 
ating and  scrofulous."  Why  should  we 
not  reason  in  the  same  eminently  wise 
and  practical  way  regarding  amusements  ? 
Let  us  argue  thus  :  "  Here  is  a  great 
city,  absolutely  honeycombed  with  places 
of  amusement.  Some  of  them  are  hope- 
lessly bad  and  demoralizing,  the  atmos- 
phere is  foetid  and  enervating,  and  the  en- 
tertainment is  often  unblushingly  filthy. 
And  yet  amusement  is  not  necessarily  an 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  PLEASURE.       59 

evil.  It  has  been  shown  that  there  is  a 
profitable  market  for  good  books.  Why 
not  also  as  large  a  demand  for  pure  pleas- 
ures ?  Let  us  therefore  provide  laughter 
that  shall  be  clean,  merriment  that  shall 
have  no  pain  in  it,  pleasure  that  shall 
never  be  the  forerunner  of  torment." 
The  w^ise  and  Christian  poHcy  is  to  sup- 
port and  promote  the  good,  and  to  reject 
and  annihilate  the  evil.  Pure  amuse- 
ments would  do  as  much  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  the  people  as  high-class  fiction 
has  done. 

I  cannot  imagine  any  man  finding  sat- 
isfactory delight  in  dancing.  There  may 
be  no  harm  in  a  quiet  dance  amongst  the 
home  circle.  But  the  public  dancing- 
rooms  are  nothing  less  than  dens  of  de- 
struction. Dancing,  when  indulged  in  at 
promiscuous  assemblies,  has  two  grave 
dangers.  There  is  a  tendency  to  make  it 
the  .one  business  of  life  ;  indeed,  I  have 
known  men  whose  conversation   seldom 


6o  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

rose  beyond  vague  and  mysterious  dis- 
cussions regarding  the  relative  value  of 
the  waltz  and  schottisch.  It  also  leads  to 
late  hours,  and  you  may  be  quite  sure  that 
the  young  man  who  turns  up  at  business 
in  evening  dress,  with  sleepy  eyes,  weary 
frame,  and  a  splitting  headache,  will  soon 
find  himself  presented  with  an  indefinite 
holiday.  Dancing  has  been  described  as 
"  hugging  to  music,  "  and  it  is  undoubted- 
ly true  that,  apart  from  the  music,  Mrs. 
Grundy  would  soon  step  in  and  put  a  stop 
to  the  whole  business.  It  is  said  that 
dancing  leads  to  marriage.  That  may  be 
true  ;  but  who  would  care  to  look  for  a 
wife  amongst  the  giddy,  thoughtless, 
gushing  creatures  at  a  public  dance  ? 

Pleasure  is  an  excellent  thing  if  it  is 
well  chosen,  wisely  guarded  and  vigor- 
ously controlled.  So  long  as  you  can 
master  it  and  keep  it  in  its  place,  all  will 
be  well ;  but  give  yourself  up  to  it,  and 
the  Biblical  prophecy    shall   be  fulfilled, 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  PLEASURE.       6i 

"  He  that  loveth  pleasure  shall  be  a  poor 
man."  The  most  pleasureless  man  in  the 
world  is  the  man  whose  whole  life  is  de- 
voted to  the  pursuit  of  pleasure.  Pleas- 
ure is  like  fire — a  useful  and  indispensable 
servant,  but  a  dangerous  and  fatal  master. 
A  room  with  a  fire  in  it  is  comfortable  ; 
a  room  all  fire  means  death  and  destruc- 
tion. So  it  is  with  pleasure.  A  life  with 
pleasure  in  it  is  entirely  right  and  satisfac- 
tory ;  but  a  life  all  pleasure  is  not  fife  at 
all,  the  grand  purposes  of  life  are  forgot- 
ten, the  noblest  ideals  are  buried  under  a 
load  of  reckless  mirth  and  senseless  tom- 
foolery. 

I  am  not  speaking  rashly,  but  with 
careful  forethought,  and  as  the  result  of 
some  years  of  observation  and  experience, 
when  I  say  that  the  cause  of  failure  in  five 
out  of  every  six  young  men  is  the  insane 
passion  for  pleasure.  Thousands  of  men 
come  to  the  large  cities  every  year,  all 
bent  upon  success.     What  is  the  result? 


62  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

Their  great  aims  are  soon  forgotten,  their 
youthly  enthusiasm  quickly  cools,  and 
they  have  to  rub  along  with  a  small  wage 
which  hardly  keeps  them  alive.  The 
cause  is  not  always  to  be  found  in  lack  of 
ability  or  failure  of  character.  It  lies  in  a 
love  of  debilitating  and  unwholesome 
pleasures.  When  they  should  be  en- 
gaged in  healthful  physical  exercises  or  in 
strenuous  mental  improvement,  they  are 
kicking  up  their  heels  in  a  dancing-hall,  or 
stewing  in  the  gallery  of  a  third-rate  the- 
atre. Such  men  will  fail,  inevitably  and 
completely.  They  will  sink  by  degrees. 
Gambling  will  fascinate  them,  strong 
drink  will  stupefy  them,  bad  men  will  vic- 
timise them,  and  through  love  of  pleasure 
they  will  become  "poor  men,"  stunted  in 
intellect,  enfeebled  in  body,  ruined  in  soul. 
Beware,  then,  my  brothers,  of  riotous 
and  irrational  pleasures.  The  disillusion- 
ment is  swift  and  terrible,  and  leaves  a 
lasting  scar  behind.     The  pleasures  that 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  PLEASURE.       63 

satisfy  and  invigorate  are  to  be  found  in 
sturdy  exercise,  in  healthful  rambles 
through  the  verdant  country,  or  amid  the 
exquisite  and  ever-varying  delights  of  the 
sea-shore,  in  the  enjoyment  of  good 
books,  noble  pictures,  and  soul-stirring 
music.  These  are  pleasures  upon  which 
you  can  ask  the  blessing  of  God,  pleas- 
ures in  which  you  can  look  for  the  com- 
panionship of  your  Master,  Christ.  They 
may  not  excite^  but  they  recreate.,  and 
that  is  what  you  want.  Remember,  no 
man  has  a  right  to  any  enjoyment  until  he 
has  earned  it  by  steady,  persevering  toil. 
Before  you  can  properly  appreciate  an 
evening's  pleasure,  you  must  do  a  day's 
work,  and  do  it  with  thoroughness  and 
alacrity.  Those  who  never  do  any  work 
never  enjoy  a  holiday. 

Remember,  also — and  this  is  the  chief 
thing  after  all — that  the  truest  pleasure  to 
be  found  on  earth  is  in  self-sacrificing. 
Christian  service.     The  only  happy  life  is 


64  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

that  which  is  lived  "unto  God."  Spend 
much  of  your  leisure  in  trying  .o  bring 
heaven's  rest  nearer  to  earth's  weariness. 
Succour  the  helpless,  stand  up  for  the  op- 
pressed, oppose  every  prevailing  evil,  seek 
the  highest  welfare  of  men,  and  you  will 
experience  a  sacred  rapture  in  the  glow- 
ing brightness  of  which  all  earth's  super- 
ficial pleasures  will  rapidly  fade  away. 
Such  work  will  prevent  all  morbid  intro- 
spection, all  the  wretched  ennui  of  a  self- 
centred  existence,  and  it  will  drive  away 
all  melancholy  and  gloom.  The  only  last- 
ing pleasure  is  that  which  is  found  in  an 
inflexible  allegiance  to  duty,  and  in  earn- 
est  social  service  for  Jesus  Christ. 


THIS  IS  THE  PROPERTY  OF 
OUPUIN  aOYT.BARKMAN 


V. 

CHRIST  AND  COA\A\ERCE. 

"  O,  -while  you  live,  tell  truth,  and  shame  the  devil." 

— Shakespeare. 

If  there  is  anything  which  Christianity 
needs  to-day  it  is  the  practical  and  sagac- 
ious help  of  business  men.  Christianity 
has  suffered  more  from  the  dense  stupid- 
ity of  some  of  its  followers  than  from  the 
venomous  opposition  of  all  its  enemies. 
A  lazy,  half-hearted,  careless  Christian 
can  do  more  harm  to  Christ's  cause  than 
the  most  unscrupulous  atheist.  And  if 
there  is  anything  which  commerce  needs 
to-day,  it  is  the  cleansing.ennobling  influ- 
ence of  Christianity.  The  men  who  are 
immersed  in  the  burning  excitement  and 
relentless  whirl  of  business  will  be  almost 
surprised  if  you  tell  them  that  Christian- 
ity is  of  far  greater  importance  than  all 
their  commerce.     They  will   laugh   with 


(65) 


THIS  IS  THE  PROPERTY  OF 
CHAPLAIN  FLOY  T.  BARKMAN 


(^  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

a  scornful  incredulity,  but  it  is  a  simple 
fact  nevertheless.  And  for  this  reason, 
that  commerce  builds  a  fortune,  but 
Christianity  builds  a  character ;  commerce 
gives  you  a  bank  balance,  but  Christianity 
gives  you  an  unfailing  fund  of  happiness ; 
commerce  makes  money,  but  Christianity 
makes  men.  And  it  makes  what  Carlyle 
used  to  call,  "upright,  downright,  straight- 
forward, all-round  men."  It  smashes  the 
unjust  weights,  breaks  in  pieces  the  fraud- 
ulent measures,  banishes  all  trickery  and 
cunning,  kills  the  ready  and  plausible  lie, 
and  enables  weak,  imperfect,  tempted 
men  to  practice  the  highest  truthfulness 
and  the  sturdiest  honesty. 

I  fear  it  must  be  admitted  that  these 
are  days  of  great  commercial  corruption. 
There  is,  for  instance,  a  despiciable  sys- 
tem of  bribery  which  is  cleverly  and  con- 
veniently disguised  by  such  terms  as 
"  commissions  "  and  "  presents."  It  is 
time  that  all  this  trickery  should  be  abol- 


CHRIST  AND  COMMERCE.         67 

ished,  so  that  the  polished  rogues  who 
have  for  so  long  waxed  fat  on  the  "  usual 
commission,"  may  be  compelled  to  give 
up  their  secret  spoils  and  enjoy  the  re- 
freshing novelty  of  honest  work.  Then 
there  is  the  scandalous  and  revolting  sys- 
tem of  "  sweating,"  and  many  other  foul 
systems  of  oppression  and  injustice,  which 
indicate  that  the  commercial  atmosphere 
sadly  needs  the  purifying  influence  of  a 
living  Christianity. 

The  Churches  have  been  greatly  to 
blame  for  much  of  the  anti-Christian 
character  of  present-day  commerce. 
They  have  busied  themselves  with  theo- 
logical sham-fights,  and  have  played  at 
conflicts  in  the  clouds,  when  they  ought 
to  have  descended  into  the  actual  throb- 
bing, palpitating  life  of  the  people  and 
fought  a  stern  battle  for  uprightness  and 
rectitude.  And  they  have  smilingly  and 
gratefully  accepted  the  haughty  patronage 
and  substantial  checks  of  their  wealthy 


68  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

supporters,  without  a  single  inquiry  as  to 
the  glaring  immoralities  by  which  these 
men  had  heaped  up  their  ill-gotten  spoils. 
Henceforth  the  battle  of  Christianity  will, 
to  a  large  extent,  have  to  be  fought  out 
in  the  counting-house  and  the  ware-house. 
And  the  victory  will  not  have  been  won 
so  long  as  it  is  possible  for  men  to  be  re- 
ceived with  ringing  cheers  in  religious 
assemblies,  while  they  are  grinding  the 
life  out  of  their  unhappy  employes,  and 
indulging  in  practices  which  may  be  re- 
garded in  the  city  as  commercially  expe- 
dient, but  looked  at  in  the  light  of  Christ's 
gospel  are  absolutely  antagonistic  to  truth 
and  righteousness. 

There  is  one  lie  which  needs  to  be 
promptly  and  publicly  exposed.  I  refer 
to  the  miserable  delusion  which  supposes 
that  a  man  cannot  be  at  once  honest  and 
successful  in  business.  The  best  answer 
to  this  debasing  theory  is  to  be  found  in 
the  lives  of  such  men  as  the  late  William 


CHRIST  AND  COMMERCE.         69 

_ 

E.  Dodge,  of  New  York,  and  Samuel 
Morley,  of  London.  They  were  as  un- 
swervingly upright  as  they  were  enor- 
mously prosperous.  It  is  an  undeniable 
fact  that  the  principles  of  the  sermon  on 
the  Mount,  when  faithfully  carried  out, 
form  the  surest  guide  to  genuine  success 
in  the  market-place  of  to-day.  The  man 
who  gains  a  reputation  for  scrupulous 
fidelity  is  the  man  everybody  will  want 
to  do  business  with.  Let  him  guard  the 
most  trivial  details  of  his  business  with 
tender  jealously,  let  him  discharge  every 
obligation  with  rigorous  exactness,  and 
then  when  success  crowns  his  efforts,  he 
will  have  maintained  what  is  worth  far 
more  than  countless  fortunes,  an  un- 
stained name,  an  unsullied  record,  and  a 
conscience  void  of  offence. 

"  But,"  says  a  young  man,  **  I  have 
been  honest,  but  I  have  not  been  success- 
ful." Of  course  not !  Merely  negative 
virtues    are     absolutely  valueless.      The 


^o  FIRST  B A  TTLES, 

office  boy  is  not  promoted  because  he 
never  stole  the  stamps,  but  on  account 
of  his  energy  and  vigilance,  his  ability  and 
intelligence.  The  post  assigned  to  you 
now  may  seem  woefully  small  and  unim- 
portant, but  it  is  just  the  way  in  which 
you  do  or  neglect  these  {apparently  trifling 
duties  that  will  make  or  mar  your  future. 
Never  be  discouraged  because  your  pres- 
ent position  is  humble  and  obscure.  If 
you  sit  down  and  mourn  you  will  never 
get  on.  Do  you  want  a  better  place  ? 
Then  outgrow  the  one  you  are  in.  Do 
your  present  work — lowly  and  monoto- 
nous as  it  may  seem — with  as  much  vigor 
and  care  as  if  it  were  of  crowning  im- 
portance. Fit  yourself  by  strenuous  cul- 
ture for  the  opportunity  which  will  surely 
come.  But  never  dream  that  you  can  be 
a  success  because  you  abstain  from  down- 
right evil.  You  have  got  to  do  some- 
thing.^ and  what  is  more,  you  have  got  to 
do  it  well,  do  it  better  than  you  have  ever 


CHRIST  AND  COMMERCE.         71 

done  it  before,  and  do  it  better  than  any- 
body else  can  do  it.  Then  success  is  sure 
to  follow. 

Do  you  think  that  business  life  is  hum- 
drum and  prosaic  ?  That  shows  how 
little  you  know  about  it.  I  tell  you  it  is 
full  of  sublimest  romance  and  deepest  in- 
terest. You  may  look  back  longingly  to 
the  days  when  men  could  make  a  valiant 
stand  for  the  right,  and  prove  their  faith- 
fulness to  God  by  going  manfully  to  the 
stake.  But  circumstances  make  no  differ- 
ence to  the  true  hero.  If  you  cannot 
fight  the  battle  of  purity  and  virtue  in  a 
city  office,  you  would  never  have  braved 
the  faggot-fire  in  the  old  days  of  martyr- 
dom. There  is  a  holy  war  to  be  waged 
to-day.  Never  were  self-sacrificing,  hero- 
ic young  men  so  greatly  needed  as  they 
are  now.  You  have  to  preserve  your 
own  manhood  chaste  and  pure  in  the  midst 
of  flaring  enticements  to  evil.  You  have 
to  promote  a  nobler  spirit  in  commerce,  a 


72  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

more  brotherly  and  righteous  spirit,  which 
shall  lift  business  into  a  sweeter  atmos- 
phere and  turn  the  factory  into  a  sanctu- 
ary. Never  believe  that  business  is  a 
dull,  bald,  grey,  uninteresting  thing.  It 
simply  glows  with  poetry  and  romance. 
Let  us  peep  into  a  little  city  office. 
There  is  a  young  man,  with  a  pale  and 
haggard  countenance  ;  he  sits  on  a  high 
stool  counting  checks.  He  earns  barely 
two  dollars  a  day,  and  yet  a  year  or  two 
ago  he  had  the  temerity  to  marry  a  fair, 
sweet  girl.  He  loved  her,  and  laughed  at 
the  warnings  of  stern,  logical,  social  econ- 
omists. Now,  she  is  thin  and  weak  and 
ill ;  and  as  he  left  her  bedside  this  morn- 
ing the  doctor  remarked  in  commanding 
tones,  that  wine — "  port,  sir,  good  port " 
— was  absolutely  necessary,  and  that  a 
change  of  air  would  soon  be  advisable. 
And  on  twelve  dollars  a  week  I  A  fifty 
dollar  bill  is  in  the  young  man's  hand. 
How    he    trembles  I     Dare    he    do    it  ? 


CHRIST  AND  COMMERCE.  73 

Three  months  hence  the  amount  can  be 
repaid  and  no  one  will  be  the  wiser.  Ijt 
is  just  the  amount  he  needed  I  Oh,  the 
desperate  conflict ;  but  he  is  gloriously 
victorious.  He  jumps  from  his  stool, 
defies  the  tempting  devil,  locks  the 
money  in  the  safe,  and  whispers,  in  a 
voice  broken  with  tears,  ^' Lord,  help 
me  I'' 

Ah!  the  race  of  heroes  is  not  extinct. 
There  is  plenty  of  romance  in  the  appar- 
ently dull  routine  of  business  life.  Men 
who  toil  cheerily  and  live  celibate  lives  in 
order  to  care  for  a  dear  old  mother  who 
has  no  other  helper;  great-hearted  fellows 
who  might  rise  to  wealth  if  they  would 
stoop  to  trickery,  but  who  keep  their 
hands  clean  and  their  hearts  pure  in  spite 
of  all  the  chicanery  and  cunning  of  the 
city — these  are  earth's  truest  heroes. 
And  you  can  do  the  same  if  you  put  your 
trust  in  the  unfailing  help  of  a  living 
Christ. 


74  FIRS  T  BA  TTLES. 

Beware  of  mere  cleverness.  There  is 
a  superficial  kind  of  shrewdness  which  is 
extremely  dangerous.  The  man  who  is 
only  clever  is  always  in  peril  of  becoming 
a  trickster — ever  dodging,  shifting,  and 
deceiving.  In  these  days  of  shallow 
knowledge  and  empty  boasting,  men 
need  to  be  restrained  and  guided  by  the 
great  example  of  the  Christ  life.  In  the 
Master  we  have  all  the  best  qualities  of 
the  ideal  manhood  combined  in  a  perfect 
model.  He  had  a  mind  quick  to  per- 
ceive, and  a  soul  pure  and  clear  as  the 
noonday  sun.  It  is  for  this  lofty  charac- 
ter that  we  must  strive  and  pray.  We 
want  intellectual  alacrity,  but  we  also 
want  unflinching  rectitude.  "  There  is 
only  one  post  for  you,"  said  Carlyle  to  a 
bad  man,  "  and  that  is — perpetual  presi- 
dent of  the  Heaven  and  Hell  Amalgama- 
tion Society."  There  are  many  men  in 
commerce  of  whom  that  would  be  true. 
They  are  engaged  in  a  hopeless  attempt 


CHRIST  AND  COMMERCE,         75 

to  serve  God  and  mammon — to  increase 
their  wealth  by  the  maximum  of  swind- 
ling, while  they  try  to  deaden  their  con- 
science by  the  minimum  of  empty  and 
formal  pietism.  It  will  never  do.  The 
attempt  can  only  end  in  failure  and  dis- 
honor and  endless  shame.  But  the  man 
who  by  the  power  of  an  ever-present 
Christ  has  been  able  to  conquer  himself, 
who  has  calmly  ignored  the  sneers  of  the 
cynic  and  resolutely  withstood  the  wiles 
of  the  tempter  —  that  man  has  in  his 
heart  the  sublime  consciousness  of  having 
done  right,  and  his  path  is  bathed  in 
brightness.  He  is  governed  by  principle 
instead  of  passion,  by  truth  instead  of 
trickery.  His  soul  is  possessed  by  an 
unspeakable  peace,  his  heart  is  filled  with 
an  unfaltering  trust  in  God,  and  he  has 
no  damning  recollection  of  cruel  wrong 
or  foul  injustice  to  darken  his  outlook 
and  destroy  his  rest.  He  may  not  be 
followed    by   the    fawning    adulation   of 


76  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

men,  but  with  the  pure  in  heart  he  will 
see  God.  And  that  will  be  far  better 
than  if  he  had  gained  the  whole  world 
and  lost  his  own  soul. 


VI. 

ABOUT  HOLIDAYS. 

If  thou  art  vuorn  and  hard  beset 

With  troubles  that  you  vjouldst  forget^ 

If  thou  -Mouldst  read  a  lesson  that  -will  keep 

Thy  heart   from    fainting  and  thy  soul  from  sleeps 

Go  to  the  woods  and  hills  !  no  tears 

Dim  the  sweet  look  that  Nature  tvears. 

H.  W.  Longfellow. 

I  BELIEVE  no  one  in  this  world  enjoys  a 
holiday  more  thoroughly  than  the  hard- 
working business  young  man,  and  for  this 
reason — that  fifty  weeks  of  honest  toil 
form  the  best  possible  preparation  for  two 
weeks'  recreation.  Many  a  man  does 
not  think  so,  I  admit.  When  he  sees  the 
"gilded  youths  "  who  have  nothing  to  do 
from  January  ist  to  December  31st  but 
go  a-pleasuring,  he  looks  around  at  his 
dingy  office,  counts  the  weary  weeks  that 
have  to  elapse  before  his  humble  two 
weeks'  vacation,  and  feels  like  breaking 

(77) 


78  FIRS  T  BA  TTLES. 

the  tenth  commandment.  He  is  under 
an  immense  delusion.  '*  If  all  the  year 
were  playing  holidays^  to  sport  would  be 
as  tedious  as  to  work. "  No  man  revels 
m  twelve  or  twenty  days'  exemption 
from  toil  like  the  busy  worker  who  has 
been  plodding  manfully  for  eleven  long 
months  to  earn  his  bread,  and  who,  in 
spare  hours,  has  lived  earnestly  and 
fought  valiantly  in  order  to  acquire  a  cul- 
tured mind  and  achieve  a  lofty  character. 
No  man  need  forswear  the  luxury  of  a 
holiday  because  he  is  poor.  The  most 
rational  and  refreshing  delights  are  gener- 
ally the  cheapest.  I  have  had  better  hol- 
idays for  twenty  dollars  than  I  have  had 
for  two  hundred.  Those  who  travel 
most  sometimes  see  the  least.  You  may 
rush  through  Europe  and  squander  your 
substance  at  fashionable  hotels  only  to  be 
bored  by  the  inanity  of  table-cThote  chat- 
ter, bewildered  by  the  eccentricities  of 
railway  porters,  pestered     by   garrulous 


ABOUT  HO  LI  DA  YS.  79 

guides,  and  broiled  by  the  hot  suns  of 
Continental  cities.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  fatigue  I  endured  after  my  first  visit 
to  Paris.  Those  brilliant  boulevards  and 
glittering  cafes  and  feverish  crowds — how 
I  tired  of  them  all;  and  how  supremely 
happy  I  felt  for  a  week  afterwards,  rest- 
ing in  a  quiet  French  seaside  town,  where 
I  could  dine  when  I  liked,  dress  as  I 
liked,  and  do  what  I  liked,  and  where  no 
one  thought  it  undignified  to  lie  on  the 
sands  in  flannels  with  the  Tauchnitz  edi- 
tion of  the  last  new  romance.  I  would 
not  underrate  the  value  of  a  European 
trip  to  a  healthy  young  man — nothing 
surely  could  be  more  interesting  or  de- 
lightful ;  but  for  a  jaded  mind  and  a 
weary  body  there  is,  perhaps,  better  relax- 
ation to  be  found  nearer  home.  There  is  no 
lack  of  variety  in  temperature  and  scenery 
within  the  compass  of  reasonable  distance, 
and  many  delightful  resorts  are  to  be  dis- 
covered by  a  little  effort  and  inquiry. 


8o  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

When  Mr.  Ruskin  urges  us  to  play 
wisely  as  well  as  to  work  well,  he  gives 
us  a  very  necessary  and  important  advice. 
What  can  be  more  irrational  than  the 
way  in  which  many  people  spend  their 
holidays  ?  They  frequently  toil  much 
harder  during  what  they  playfully  term 
their  "  vacation  "  than  under  the  most 
strenuous  pressure  of  business.  They 
either  rush  from  monument  to  museum, 
from  park  to  picture-gallery,  from  cafe  to 
cathedral,  in  a  cruel  but  conscientious 
attempt  to  "do  Europe,"  or  else  they 
"  rest "  amid  the  shrill  and  vulgar 
choruses  of  nigger  minstrels  and  the  mad 
whirl  of  fashionable  folly.  All  this  is  a 
huge  blunder.  Do  you  follow  a  seden- 
tary occupation  ?  Then,  why  not  spend 
your  holiday  on  a  wheel  ?  Mounted  on 
a  good  cycle  you  can  roam  through  the 
most  charming  country  entirely  at  your 
own  sweet  will.  The  expense  is  incon- 
siderable, the    exercise  healthy,  and  the 


ABOUT  HO  LID  A  YS.  8 1 

enjoyment  boundless.  Others  will  prefer 
rowing,  and  will  gain  equally  beneficial 
results.  I  always  feel  that  the  vain  crea- 
tures who  deck  themselves  in  gorgeous 
raiment,  squander  money  on  unnecessary 
luxuries,  and  then  start  up  and  down  the 
crowded  promenade  of  a  fashionable  re- 
sort all  day,  and  breathe  the  vitiated  at- 
mosphere of  the  dancing  saloon  at  night, 
are  greatly  to  be  pitied.  What  do  they 
know  of  the  simple,  honest  pleasures  of 
pure  air,  plain  food,  genial  companionship, 
and  healthy  exercise?  Yet  these  are 
the  chief  desiderata  of  a  real  holiday,  and 
while  their  value  is  priceless  their  cost  is 
insignificant. 

How  can  we  make  sure  of  an  exhilarat- 
ing and  thoroughly  satisfactory  holiday  ? 
Let  me  offer  a  few  friendly  suggestions. 
(i.)  By  going  at  the  right  time.  Sep- 
tember is  probably  the  best  month,  if  you 
can  conveniently  manage  it.  The  air  is 
cool  and  bracing,  popular  resorts  are  not 


82  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

overcrowded,  and  the  voice  of  the  stroll- 
ing musician  is  no  longer  heard  in  the 
streets.  (2.)  By  earning  it.  The  man 
who  has  worked  perseveringly  through- 
out the  year  goes  away  with  a  clear  con- 
science, and  enjoys  his  vacation  with  a 
buoyancy  of  spirit  and  a  lightness  of 
heart  sufficient  to  turn  the  idler  and 
lounger  green  with  envy.  (3.)  By  pre- 
paring  for  it.  The  joys  of  anticipation 
are  often  greater  than  the  pleasures  of 
realization.  Having  chosen  a  place  that 
will  suit  your  tastes  and  temperament, 
read  up  all  the  best  books  that  refer  to  it, 
plan  a  pleasant  route,  and  inquire  for 
comfortable  but  not  necessarily  expen- 
sive quarters.  (4.)  By  sharing  it  with 
genial  companio?is.  It  is  far  better  to 
be  alone  than  to  endure  the  endless 
cackle  of  feather-brained  chatterers,  or 
the  morbid  growls  of  dyspeptic  cynics. 
Amongst  "  genial  companions  "  I  would 
include   books.     To  enjoy  a  holiday  we 


ABOUT  HOLIDA  YS.  83 

need  not  put  aside  all  work.  What  we 
want,  as  a  rule,  is  not  so  much  entire 
rest  as  change  of  scene  and  occupation. 
Why  not  take  a  few  books  for  which  no 
time  could  be  found  in  the  work-days  ? 
To  read  about  the  places  visited  will  help 
to  store  the  mind  with  useful  information, 
(c.)  By  keeping  your  eyes  wide  open. 
I  know  men  who  have  been  veritable 
globe-trotters,  and  yet  they  are  as  insular 
in  their  sympathies,  and  as  narrow  in 
their  information,  as  the  most  thorough- 
bred Cockney.  All  the  inspiring  paint- 
ings and  noble  architecture,  all  the  pre- 
cious memorials  of  genius  and  antiquity, 
have  failed  to  make  the  slightest  impres- 
sion ;  but  they  will  tell  you  with  the  ut- 
most gravity,  that  in  London  the  cost  of 
shaving  was  only  half  as  much  as  in  New 
York;  that  in  Venice  the  lodgings  were 
shockingly  vile  ;  and  that  Paris  was  the 
only  place  where  they  could  get  decent 
coffee. 


84  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

Holidays  have  their  dangers.  Re- 
straints are  removed — no  one  knows  you 
— and  you  are  in  the  extremely  perilous 
position  of  being  able  to  do  as  you  like. 
I  have  seen  young  men  do  things  abroad 
which  they  would  have  solemnly  con- 
demned at  home.  Beware  of  the  "gaiety 
of  those  whose  headaches  nail  them  to  a 
noonday  bed  ;  whose  haggard  eyes  flash 
desperation  and  betray  pangs."  Healthy 
merriment  and  innocent  pleasure  will  do 
us  all  good ;  but  may  God  save  us  from 
the  "gaiety  that  fills  the  bones  with  pain, 
the  mouth  with  blasphemy,  and  the  heart 
with  woe."  There  is  such  a  gaiety,  and 
it  flashes  with  seductive  charm  in  many 
a  holiday  haunt.  No  recreation  is  worth 
the  name  which  does  not  make  us  buoy- 
ant with  renewed  health,  eager  for  social 
service,  and  strong  for  daily  toil. 


VII. 

SHA/nS. 

"Some  that  smile  have  in  their  hearts,  I  fear,  millions  of 
mischiefs." — Shakespeare. 

"Toucan  fool  some  of  the  people  all  the  time,  and  all 
the  people  some  of  the  time,  but  you  can^t  fool  all  the 
people  all  the  timeT — Abraham  Lincoln. 

To  say  that  a  sham  is  the  most  despic- 
able thing  in  the  world  is  merely  to  utter 
an  obvious  truism.  To  observe  that  so- 
ciety is  cursed  by  shams  is  only  to  ex- 
press the  most  general  sentiment.  And 
yet  it  is  possible  that  w^e  have  not  alto- 
gether realized  how  deplorable  is  the  in- 
fluence of  the  hypocritical  spirit — how  it 
poisons  the  moral  atmosphere,  hinders  all 
good  work,  and  casts  a  withering  blight 
over  everything  it  touches.  The  weakest 
point  in  any  body  of  men  is  that  occupied 
by  the  counterfeits,  the  frauds,  the  im- 
postors. Any  political  party  might  attain 
office  to-morrow  if  all  its  followers  were 

(«6) 


86  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

downright  in  earnest.  Christianity  might 
conquer  the  world  in  a  year  if  every  man 
who  bears  the  name  of  Christ  were  de- 
termined, loyal,  burning  with  fervid  zeal, 
and  thoroughly  genuine  and  sincere. 
Then  every  disciple  would  be  terrible  in 
battle,  irresistible  in  prayer,  and  stalwart 
in  faith.  But  the  victory  is  postponed  by 
the  half-hearted,  the  hesitating,  the  shams, 
the  hypocrites,  the  people  who  are  never 
to  be  depended  upon. 

Let  us  glance  rapidly  at  a  few  of  these 
counterfeits.  Perhaps  the  most  terrible 
hindrance  to  the  free  and  unrestricted 
progress  of  Christianity  is  the  religious 
sham.  The  question  that  proves  such  a 
stumbling-block  to  thousands  of  intelli- 
gent and  large-hearted  young  men  to-day 
is  this  :  "  How  is  it  that  while  profess- 
ing Christians  are  frequently  mean  and 
selfish  and  proud,  worldlings  are  so  often 
generous  and  brotherly  and  Christ-like  ?" 
"  Look  there,"  said  a  young  man  to  Pro- 


SHAMS.  87 

fessor  Drummond,  "you  see  that  elderly 
gentleman  ?  He  is  the  founder  of  our  in- 
fidel club. "  "  But,  "  said  the  Professor, 
"  he  is  a  leading  elder  of  the  Church. " 
"  I  know  he  is, "  was  the  young  man's 
reply,  "  but  he  founded  our  infidel  club. 
Every  man  in  the  village  knows  what  a 
humbug  he  is,  and  so  we  will  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  religion. "  It  is  all  very 
well  to  say  that  Christianity  should  notbe 
judged  by  such  feeble  and  unworthy  spec- 
imens— the  fact  remains  that  it  is  judged 
by  those  who  profess  it ;  and  so  long  as 
that  is  the  case,  every  sham  representa- 
tive will  be  a  source  of  weakness  and  a 
hindrance  to  all  true  progress. 

The  religion  which  is  going  to  influence 
the  world  to-day  is  a  religion  not  merely 
of  creeds  but  of  conduct — a  religion  that 
softens  the  heart,  controls  the  passions, 
checks  the  hasty  and  impatient  word,  and 
purifies  the  life  both  of  the  home  and  the 
oflSce.     "  I  would  not  give  much  for  that 


88  FIRST  BATTLES. 

man's  religion, "  said  Rowland  Hill, 
"whose  very  cat  and  dog  are  not  better 
for  it. "  Every  Christian  should  so  live 
as  to  be  able  to  say  with  the  good  old 
Methodist  preacher,  "If  you  don't  believe 
I  am  a  Christian,  ask  my  wife!"  A  re- 
ligion which  is  confined  to  a  prayer-meet- 
ing is  a  counterfeit  religion,  and  ?nay  be 
swept  away  as  absolutely  valueless  ;  true 
Christianity  sweetens  the  whole  life,  and 
upHfts  everything  it  touches.  There  is 
no  better  defense  of  Christianity  than  the 
generous  character  and  upright  life  of  a 
true  man,  and  there  is  no  more  danger- 
ous enemy  of  Christianity  than  the  crea- 
ture who  steals  "the  livery  of  the  Court 
of  Heaven  to  serve  the  devil  in,  "  whose 
tongue  is  fluent  with  plausible  profes- 
sions while  his  hands  are  busy  with  the 
works  of  hell. 

An  Athenian  once  delivered  a  long  and 
briUiant  speech,  in  which  he  made  large 
and     liberal     promises.     Another — who 


SHAMS.  89 

lacked  eloquence  but  was  full  of  sincerity 
— got  up  and  said,  "Men  of  Athens,  all 
that  he  has  promised  I  will  do.  "  That 
is  the  spirit  we  need  to-day.  There  is 
nothing  more  pitiable  than  to  see  good 
men  wasting  time  and  talent  in  little, 
unworthy  squabbles  about  their  pet  dog- 
mas, while  their  next  door  neighbors  are 
going  to  the  devil  for  want  of  a  strong 
arm  of  help  and  a  kindly  word  of  cheer. 
The  man  who  boasts  that  his  soul  is 
saved  and  never  feeds  a  poor  body  or 
cheers  a  sad  heart  is  a  living  contradic- 
tion— an  awful  sham  I  "  Quit  your  mean- 
ness "  is  a  favorite  expression  with  a  cer- 
tain revival  preacher,  and  really  it  is  a 
very  necessary  piece  of  advice.  The 
popular  idea  of  religion  is  a  comfortable, 
jog-trot,  respectable  kind  of  life — an  oc- 
casional visit  to  a  church,  a  prompt  pay- 
ment of  pew  rents,  a  few  stray  sub- 
scriptions to  painfully  importunate  collec- 


90  FIRST  BATTLES. 

tors,  and  then  you  may  be  as  selfish  and 
cynical  as  the  rest  of  the  world.  This  is 
meanness — contemptible  and  pitiable. 
We  can  do  without  these  lazy  sentiment- 
alists, these  dilettanti  church-goers, 
these  religious  shams,  who  never  do  a 
day's  helpful  work  to  relieve  the  world's 
agony  or  minister  to  the  world's  necessi- 
ties. There  are  thousands  of  young  men 
in  our  homes  and  churches  who  indo- 
lently stand  aloof  from  the  great  battle 
for  good  and  right  and  truth.  Is  this 
manly,  or  chivalrous,  or  Christ-like  ?  Is 
it  not  cowardly  and  selfish  and  mean  ? 
How  can  we  be  surprised  if  the  Master 
should  pronounce  over  all  such  shams 
those    sad   words  that  are   full  of  tears, 

"  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not " 

Then  there  is  the  sham  in  business. 
He  is  lazy, flabby,  slovenly,  careless.  He 
shrinks  from  the  monotony  of  routine, 
despises   the   daily    drudgery,   postpones 


SHAMS.  91 

every  disagreeable  duty,  and  then  won- 
ders how  it  is  that  he  is  such  an  utter 
failure  in  life.     Lowell  has  told  us  that 

Folks  thet  worked  thorough  was  the  folks  that  thriv, 
But  bad  work  follers  ye  ez  long's  ye  live, 
Ye  can't  get  red  on't    just  az  sureaz  sin, 
It's  allers  askin'  to  be  done  agin. 

We  all  know  men  who  work  in  this 
superficial  way.  They  do  everything 
lazily,  partially,  unsatisfactorily.  Their 
work  will  not  bear  inspection — it  may  be 
showy,  but  it  is  also  valueless.  What 
thou  doest,  do  ivell,  is  the  best  motto  for 
young  men  to-day.  The  man  who  knows  \^ 
how  to  do  one  thing  thoroughly,  and  is 
determined  to  do  it  better  than  anybody 
else,  is  the  man  who  will  succeed.  Mr. 
Vanderbilt  paid  his  cook  a  salary  of 
$10,000  a  year  because  he  understood  the 
art  of  cooking  to  perfection.  As  a  well 
known  humorist  says  in  his  funny  way, 
"If  Monsieur  Sauceagravi  could  cook 
tolerably    well,    and  shoot  a   little,   and 


92  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

speak  three  languages  tolerably  well,  and 
keep  books  fairly,  and  could  telegraph  a 
little — and  so  on  with  a  dozen  other 
things — he  wouldn't  get  ten  thousand  a 
year  for  it."  No,  what  is  needed  is 
strenuous  concentration  of  effort.  Aim 
definitely  at  one  great  object  and  bring 
all  your  powers  to  bear  upon  the  work  in 
hand,  and  you  cannot  fail  to  rise  to  fairer 
heights  of  honor  and  achievement. 

Do  you  know  the  sham  sceptic — the 
man  who  is  glad  of  any  excuse  for  tramp- 
Hng  on  Christianity  ?  '*  I  hate  cant,"  he 
says,  with  great  unction  and  self-satisfac- 
tion, forgetting  that  Christianity  by  no 
means  possesses  the  monopoly  in  cant. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  cant  about  some 
atheists.  It  is  not  always  the  "fool" 
who  says  "  there  is  no  God  ;  "  it  is  very 
frequently  the  arrogant  sham,  who  thinks 
it  supremely  clever  to  display  his  shallow 
and  flippant  atheism.  He  will  learn  one 
day  that    honest,   manly    Christianity    is 


SHAMS.  93 

the  avowed  enemy  of  "cant,"  and  hates 
and  suppresses  it  wherever  it  lurks, 
whether  in  the  form  of  superficial  pietism 
or  hypocritical  infidelity. 

While  I  sympathize  from  my  very 
heart  with  earnest  men  who  reject  Chris- 
tianity, because  of  the  shortcomings  oi  its 
professors,  I  must  still  maintain  that  their 
position  is  utterly  childish  and  illogical. 
It  is  really  a  most  lamentable  fact  when 
men  come  into  the  region  of  religion 
they  so  often  leave  their  common  sense 
behind  them.  In  politics  they  are  influ- 
enced by  the  great  party  leaders,  not  by 
flabby  wire-pullers.  Sensible  citizens  do 
not  reject  the  Republican  party  when  a 
few  weak-kneed  constituents  turn  trai- 
tors ;  nor  do  honest  Democrats  falter  at 
the  sight  of  a  handful  of  feeble  renegades. 
And  yet  in  religion  the  same  persons  will 
allow  their  minds  to  be  prejudiced  by  the 
apparent  inconsistencies  of  any  blatant 
professor,     rather     than    go    straight   to 


94  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

the  great  Founder  of  the  Christian  faith^ 
who  alone  can  show  them  what  Chris- 
tianity really  is.  Surely  the  answer  of 
Christ  to  any  young  man  who  excused 
himself  from  discipleship  on  account  of 
the  unlovely  lives  of  professors,  would 
be,  "  What  is  that  to  thee  ?  FoUo-w  thou 
Me^  It  is  neither  fair  nor  manly  to 
point  to  the  faiHngs  of  professing  Chris- 
tians as  a  reason  for  ignoring  Jesus  Christ. 
One  man  hunts  up  a  bigot,  another  dis- 
covers a  Pharisee,  and  a  third  glances 
sneeringly  at  some  faltering  and  unhappy 
struggler  who  has  blundered  back  into 
sin  and  shame ;  and  then  in  scornful 
chorus  they  cry,  "  Behold,  this  is  Chris- 
tianity I "  The  derision  is  utterly  unjust. 
Christ  calls  men  to  Himself.  He  is  the 
typical  man — His  was  the  perfect  life — 
He  is  the  supreme  example. 

With  every  desire  to  look  on  the  bright 
side  of  things  and  magnify  the  redeeming 
features  of  the  age,  I  must  frankly  admit 


SHAMS.  95 

that  there  is  amongst  men  to-day  a  start- 
ling amount  of  shallowness  and  superfici- 
ality of  thought.  Instead  of  honestly 
thinking  out  great  problems,  and  labor- 
iously unwinding  the  puzzles  of  life,  they 
indulge  in  mental  gymnastics  and  hastily 
jump  at  conclusions.  We  have  all  around 
us  feeble  imitations  of  Robert  Elsmere. 
Such  men  meet  a  free-thinking  friend, 
listen  to  his  tall  but  trumpery  talk,  and 
immediately,  with  scarcely  a  moment's 
heartache  or  an  hour's  mental  struggle, 
throw  overboard  the  little  religion  they 
possessed,  and  denounce  the  Evangel  of 
Christ  as  a  myth  and  a  sham.  The  most 
uncertain  of  political  weathercocks  would 
refuse  to  budge  an  inch  on  the  flimsy 
evidence  which  sends  these  young  men 
into  the  dreary  night  of  a  Christless  life. 
Can  anything  be  more  painful  than  the 
careless  and  frivolous  spirit  with  which 
they  leap  into  the  cold  abyss  ?  Self-con- 
fident youths,  with  more  collar  than  cul- 


96  FIRST  BATTLES. 

ture,  and  more  millinery  than  manliness, 
swallow  two  or  three  pages  of  a  magizine 
article,  and,  without  questioning  the  cre- 
dentials of  the  writer,  calmly  turn  their 
back  upon  their  Father  God,  and  go  out 
to  sip  the  latest  fashionable  mixed  drink 
at  the  hotel  bar. 

Very  few  of  us  have  ever  thought  what 
it  is  to  be  a  Christian.  When  we  see  a 
man  ticketed  as  orthodox  in  creed  and 
regular  in  church  attendance,  and  then 
discover  that  he  is  harsh  and  bitter  and 
sensual,  we  immediately  begin  to  throw 
stones  at  Christianity.  But  that  man  is 
not  a  Christian  I  He  may  cry,  "  Lord, 
Lord,"  but  loud  professions  will  never 
open  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "  Follow 
thou  Me  "  is  the  great  command.  By  no 
other  test  are  we  at  liberty  to  judge  our 
brethren.  If  any  man  lives  the  Christ 
life  then  he  is  a  Christian,  whatever  may 
be  the  opinion  of  the  pedantic  critic  or 
the  priestly  ceremonialist.     The  duty  of 


SHAMS.  97 

every  young  man  is  not  to  dissect  disci- 
ples but  to  study  Christ.  Pure  religion 
and  undeiiled  is  to  do  the  will  of  God  on 
earth  as  angels  do  it  in  heaven. 

Now  turn  for  a  moment  to  another 
kind  of  sham — the  society  sham — the 
miserable  spirit  of  counterfeit  respectabil- 
ity. It  is  not  greatly  afraid  of  evil,  but 
it  particularly  hates  the  appearance  of 
evil.  '*  People  might  talk  "  — that  is  the 
awful  bogie  that  frightens  society,  and  the 
characterless  chatter  of  brainless  men 
and  women  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than 
all  the  bitterness  of  wrongdoing.  This 
hypocritical  system  of  sham  respectability 
is  dead  against  those  pecuHar  "  people  " 
who  hold  out  hands  of  welcome  and 
friendship  to  ragged  castaways,  prodi- 
gals, and  sinners,  and  do  other  strange 
and  eccentric  things.  It  crushes  kindli- 
ness out  of  young  hearts  ;  smothers  the 
vivacity  of  buoyant  spirits  ;  reckons  de- 
corum   to   be   more   than    purity,  good 


98  FIRST  BATTLES. 

breeding  to  be  far  above  honesty,  and  the 
esteem  of  Society  (with  a  large  "s")  to 
be  infinitely  preferable  to  Heaven's  "  Well 
done  I  "  You  may  be  mean,  selfish,  and 
cowardly ;  but  you  must  not  eat  peas 
with  your  knife.  You  may  be  hard- 
hearted, cynical,  and  cruel,  if  you  will, 
but  consent  to  wear  an  unhealthy  and 
uncomfortable  stove-pipe  baton  Sundays, 
and  avoid  speaking  to  any  man  to  whom 
you  have  not  been  formally  introduced. 
It  has  a  smile  for  the  well-dressed  de- 
bauche,  the  polite  and  wealthy  knave ; 
but  it  would  cast  into  outer  darkness  the 
repentant  Magdalene  to  whom  Christ  ex- 
tended infinite  sympathy. 

Beware  of  this  cold,  critical,  carping 
spirit.  Beware  of  the  slavery  of  society, 
the  thraldom  of  caste,  the  oppressive  ty- 
ranny of  custom.  Think  for  yourselves, 
use  the  intellect  with  which  God  has 
blessed  you,  and  prove  yourselves  tne 
conquerers,  not  the  creatures,  of  cixcam- 


SHAMS.  99 

stances.  Goodness  is  the  truest  nobility. 
The  man  who  has  faith  in  God,  love  for 
humanity,  and  the  resolve  to  live  a  Christ- 
like life,  can  afford  to  ignore  all  the  threat- 
enings  of  social  ostracism,  and  wait 
patiently  till  the  brotherhood  of  men  shall 
be  universally  acknowledged. 

One  of  the  most  discouraging  features 
of  Hfe  amongst  young  men  is  the  preva- 
lence oi sham-cynicism.  A  clever  writer 
but  short-viewed  critic,  who  is  a  living 
example  of  this  unhealthy  habit,  tells  us 
in  a  recent  article  that  "the  young  man 
of  to-day  has  no  religion  and  no  enthus- 
iasm," that  he  is  ready  to  "throw  a 
woman  on  the  dissecting  table, "  and  that 
to  him  love  is  nothing  but  "  a  cruel  enig- 
ma. "  Can  anything  be  more  utterly 
ridiculous  ?  To  mix  with  small-minded 
pessimists,  listen  to  the  unclean  tittle- 
tattle  of  the  club,  and  then  rush  into  the 
awful  belief  that  chivalry  is  dead,  and  that 
faith  and  earnestness   no  longer  exist,  is 


100  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

about  as  sane  an  action  as  that  of  the  man 
who  dissected  a  dust-heap  and  then  de- 
nounced the  world  as  a  great  conglomer- 
ation of  putrid  ashes.  Thank  God  the 
great  mass  of  young  men  are  true  in  heart 
and  upright  in  life.  Melancholy  cynics 
and  blase  club-men  may  not  believe  it, 
but  there  are  thousands  of  men  to-day 
who  prefer  to  feed  on  Kingsley  and  Ten- 
nyson and  Longfellow  rather  than  pink 
sporting  papers  and  cheap  works  of  scan- 
dal— generous  and  high-minded  men 
who  can  grapple  with  giant  temptations 
and  control  the  reins  of  passion,  because 
they  have  grasped  the  hand  of  Christ  and 
asked  Him  to  keep  them  pure  and  strong. 
Let  us  beware  of  hastily  judging  the 
whole  race  of  young  men  by  the  cheap 
cynicism  of  a  few  battered  roues.  "  Con- 
tinue for  ever, "  said  Carlyle,  "  to  take 
the  best  view  of  all  mortals  which  your 
understanding  will  admit ;  nay,  it  is  often 
also  truer  than  the  surly  one." 


SHAMS.  loi 

There  are  other  shams,  of  which  the 
merest  mention  is  sufficient.  There  is 
the  sham  who  is  a  smiling  philanthropist 
in  the  church,  and  a  frowning  tyrant  in 
his  business.  There  is  the  sham  who 
wins  a  woman's  pure  affection  by  his  fair 
words,  and  then  wrecks  her  young  life 
by  his  foul  animalism.  There  is  the  sham 
who  eloquently  advocates  reform  on  the 
platform,  while  his  own  house  is  devoid 
of  order  or  comfort.  There  is  the  sham 
who  says  there  is  no  God,  because  it  will 
be  easier  to  lie  and  swindle  when  he  has 
persuaded  himself  into  that  belief. 

The  only  cure  for  shams  is  at  the  Cross. 
No  counterfeit  can  live  at  Calvary.  There 
the  hypocrisy  is  pierced,  the  mask  falls 
off,  and  all  is  revealed.  But  there  also 
we  find  forgiveness,  there  all  the  wild  and 
bitter  past  is  blotted  out ;  there  we  learn 
to  love,  there  we  begin  to  live. 


VIII. 
THE  LOST  CHRIST. 

Abide  in  me  !     There  have  been  moments  blest. 

When  I  have  heard  Thy  voice  and  felt  Thy  power; 

Then  evil  lost  its  grasp;  and  passion,  hushed. 
Owned  the  divine  enchantment  of  the  hour. 

These  were  but  seasons,  beautiful  and  rare: 

Abide  in  me  and  they  shall  ever  be! 
Fulfill  at  once  Thy  precept  and  my  prayer:  ' 

Come,  and  abide  in  me,  and  I  in  Thee ! 

— Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe. 

In  the  second  chapter  of  Luke  there  is  a 
most  significant  and  instructive  incident. 
Jesus,  a  boy  of  twelve,  had  gone  w^ith 
His  parents  to  Jerusalem  to  attend  the 
Feast  of  the  Passover.  At  the  close  of 
the  great  festival,  Joseph  and  Mary  joined 
their  friends  and  set  out  for  home  ;  but 
after  a  day's  journey  they  discovered,  to 
their  bitter  consternation,  that  they  had 
come  w^ithout  Jesus.  A  simple,  unexcit- 
ing incident — but  one  that  is  pregnant 
v^^ith  meaning,  and  one  that  conveys   a 

(102) 


THE  LOST  CHRIST  103 

most  helpful   message  to  the  young  men 
of  to-day. 

They  ^^ supposed  Him  to  have  been  in 
the  company."  That  was  their  supreme 
mistake.  Christ's  presence  is  so  essential 
that  it  must  never  become  a  matter  of 
careless  supposition  or  momentary  specu- 
lation. There  is  more  hope  of  the  man 
who  deliberately  turns  his  back  upon 
Christ,  frankly  confesses  his  entire  disbe- 
lief of  the  Gospel,  and  cuts  off  all  connec- 
tion with  the  church,  than  of  the  weak, 
superficial,  backboneless  professor,  who 
swallows  his  father's  creed  to  save 
trouble,  keeps  what  little  religion  he  has 
as  quiet  and  obscure  as  possible  to  avoid 
persecution,  and  then  "  supposes "  it  is 
all  right.  But  "suppose"  it  is  not  all 
right,  "  suppose  "  Christ  is  not  with  you, 
"  suppose  "  you  are  like  a  rudderless  boat 
in  a  hurricane — impotent,  feeble,  demor- 
alized— without  guide  or  light  or  friend  ? 
This  is  a  matter  about  which  we  must  be 


I04  FIRST  B A  TTLES. 

definite  and  sure.  Let  everything  else 
go,  but  at  least  aim  at  the  certitude  and 
safety  which  come  of  daily  intercourse 
with  Christ,  who  alone  can  secure  our 
highest  welfare,  promote  our  most  perfect 
happiness,  and  cleanse  our  lives  from  cor- 
ruption and  sin. 

Be  careful  that  you  do  not  lose  Christ, 
for  His  presence  is  the  only  guarantee  of 
a  safe  and  joyous  life.  Mr.  Quintin  Hogg 
tells  a  remarkable  story  of  an  incident 
which  happened  at  one  of  our  largest 
clubs.  He  was  chatting  with  a  friend 
about  a  man  who  had  died  by  his  own 
hand.  His  friend  spoke  rather  indignant- 
ly of  such  an  ignoble  termination  to  life, 
and  characterized  it,  rightly  enough,  as  a 
cowardly  thing  for  a  man  to  leave  others 
to  meet  the  troubles  and  reap  the  bitter 
harvest  he  had  sown.  A  well-known 
scientific  man,  who  was  sitting  close  by, 
turned  round  and  said,  "  I  think  you  have 
expressed    a   very    harsh  judgment.      I 


THE  LOST  CHRIST.  105 

don't  consider  it  the  action  of  a  coward, 
and,  for  myself,  tlie  only  rest  I  can  look 
forward  to  is  the  grave. "  Mr.  Hogg's 
friend,  thinking  that  perhaps  the  gentle- 
man had  lost  some  dear  relative  by  sui- 
cide, qualified  his  remarks  by  saying  that 
such  crimes  were  generally  committed 
under  the  influence  of  a  deranged  mind, 
and  that  his  words  did  not,  of  course,  ap- 
ply to  a  man  who  was  irresponsible  for 
his  acts.  "There  is  something  worse 
than  derangement, "  was  the  reply,  "  and 
that  is  despair."  Mr.  Hogg  says  that 
his  friend  was  very  much  shocked  at  the 
words,  and  at  the  tone  in  which  they  were 
uttered,  and  began  to  speak  to  the  scien- 
tist as  best  he  could  about  the  love  of 
God.  He  told  him  that  he  could  not 
imagine  how  those  who  accepted  the 
help  of  God  could  ever  despair.  "  Ah  I  " 
was  the  sad  reply,  "  I  gave  up  my 
beHef  in  God  long  ago,  and  I  have 
had    nothing   but    a   deepening    despair 


io6  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

ever  since.  I  repeat  that  the  grave  is  the 
only  rest  I  can  hope  for — the  only  home 
that  remains  to  me. " 

Was  there  ever  a  sadder  story  ?  Here 
is  a  noted  man  of  science  making  the 
humiliating  confession  that  life  has  lost  all 
its  brightness,  that  the  outlook  is  irre- 
deemably black,  and  that  he  is  in  the 
depths  of  perpetual  despair.  He  ap- 
proaches the  grave  w^ithout  God  and 
vdthout  hope — with  nothing  but  disap- 
pointment and  darkness  and  defeat.  This 
is  what  comes  of  losing-  Christ.  We 
have  no  longer  the  power  to  overcome  ; 
we  are  the  sport  of  circumstances,  and 
gradually  we  drift  on  to  the  cruel,  grim, 
frowning  rocks  of  helpless  misery.  The 
story  is  like  a  glaring  signal,  warning  us 
of  the  danger  that  Hes  ahead.  It  bids  us 
keep  close  to  the  strong,  tender  Christ — 
to  walk  in  His  footsteps,  to  try  to 
live  His  simple,  unselfish  life — the  life 
that  may  sometimes  be   hard  and  rough 


THE  LOST  CHRIST  107 

and  bleak,  but  is  always  full  of  unfailing 
hope  and  undimmed  love,  and  bright'with 
the  undoubted  promise  of  ultimate  vic- 
tory. 

Where  was  it  that  Joseph  and  Mary 
missed  the  boy  Christ  ?  Not  in  the  quiet 
secluded  home  at  Nazareth.  No;  they 
lost  Him  in  the  city.  That  is  the  concise 
record  of  many  a  young  man  to-day.  In 
the  old  country  home  it  was  easy  enough 
to  live  the  Christ-life;  but  when  you  are 
pitchforked  into  the  huge  city,  with  all  its 
bewildering  multitudes,  its  disenchanting 
realism,  its  seductive  snares,  and  its  mad- 
dening perplexities,  then  it  is  that  you  are 
in  danger  of  missing  the  presence  of  the 
Master.  When  you  leave  Nazareth  for 
Jerusalem,  then  comes  the  battle.  From 
the  plain,  lonely,  healthful  life  of  the  coun- 
try you  plunge  into  the  enervating,  arti- 
ficial, and  restless  existence  of  the  city, 
and  it  will  be  almost  a  miracle  if  in  this 
complete  change  of  environment  you  do 


1 08  FIRS  T  BA  TTLES. 

not  to  some  extent,   lose  the    conscious 
presence  of  Christ. 

But  what  I  want  to  point  out  to  you  is 
this,  that  unfavorable  circumstances  are 
to  be  conquered.  The  stern  discipline 
willdoj^ou  good.  Now  you  are  in  the 
city  you  will  require  the  moral  invigora- 
tion  of  Christ's  companionship  more  than 
ever.  The  very  strenuousness  of  city  life 
will  help  to  make  your  Christianity  more 
practical,  more  manly,  and,  shall  I  say, 
more  serviceable.  The  satisfaction  of 
selfish  and  Conventional  religiousness  is 
no  match  for  the  spiritual  conflicts  of  the 
city.  You  will  have  no  time  to  waste  in 
quarrelling  about  doctrmal  differences  or 
in  arranging  the  complicated  mechanism 
of  creeds.  You  want  a  strong,  virile 
Christianity,  which  does  not  frown  on 
the  beauties  of  art,  nor  fear  the  researches 
of  science,  nor  shut  its  eyes  to  the  charms 
of  music,  nor  leave  the  gymnasium  and 
outdoor  sport  to  be  the  playthings  of  the 


THE  LOST  CHRIST.  109 

devil.  This  is  the  Christianity  which  is 
to  save  the  city,  purging  its  pleasures  and 
ennobling  its  thoughts  and  elevating 
every  detail  of  its  life.  It  says  to  young 
men  who  are  sinking  into  the  aimless  ex- 
istence of  the  worldling,  or  the  cold,  song- 
less  despair  of  the  unbeliever,  "  Brother, 
you  do  not  only  want  a  Christ  who  is  far 
away  in  the  dim  records  of  ancient  his- 
tory ;  you  w^ant  a  friendly  arm  to  guide 
you  and  lift  you  up.  The  real  Christ  is  a 
wise  counsellor  and  a  loving  companion. 
He  will  not  rob  you  of  a  single  pleasure. 
He  will  not  crush  your  inquiring  spirit  or 
dethrone  your  intellect.  He  will  charm 
you  by  His  tenderness,  deliver  you  from 
the  tyranny  of  passion,  and  enable  you  to 
do  the  will  of  God  on  earth."  This  is  the 
Evangel  for  the  field  of  sport,  the  Gospel 
for  the  counting-house,  the  salvation  for 
the  city,  and,  thank  God,  thousands  of 
the  city  young  men  have  listened  to  its 
message,    and     have    joyfully     received 


no  FIRST  BATTLES. 

Jesus  Christ  as  a  Friend  and  Brother  and 
Savior.  They  love  the  Man  of  Naza- 
reth— the  Christ  of  God  and  the  Savior 
of  men — with  an  ardent  and  unspeakable 
affection  which  inevitably  constrains  them 
to  toil  for  the  welfare  and  happiness  of 
their  race.  They  live  a  large,  free,  happy 
life,  and  they  live  it  supremely  for  that 
great  Master  whose  presence  is  its  sub- 
lime inspiration,  and  whose  "  Well  done  I  " 
is  its  highest  reward 

But  I  notice,  also,  that  Christ  was  lost 
during  the  excitement  of  a  feast,  and 
many  men  to-day  could  testify  that  they 
have  found  His  presence  less  real  and 
their  own  love  less  warm,  as  the  result 
of  reckless  indulgence  or  irrational  pleas- 
ures. It  was  in  a  crowd,  too,  that  Jesus 
was  missed — and  it  is  the  busy  whirl  and 
riotous  rush  of  modern  life  that  endan- 
gers our  unbroken  communion  with 
heaven.  We  live  at  a  desperate  pace, 
every  hour  is   occupied  by  the   bustle  of 


THE  LOST  CHRIST.  iii 

business  or  the  fever  of  amusement,  and 
so  in  the  jostling  of  the  crowd  it  seems 
as  if  He  had  sHpped  away,  and  behold  I 
the  light  of  our  life  has  gone  out,  we  miss 
His  smile  and  fear  to  take  another  step 
because  we  have  lost  His  protection. 
Brothers,  this  must  not  be.  We  must 
have  our  quiet  hours  of  seclusion  and  re- 
pose lest  the  world  should  altogether  ab- 
sorb our  attention. 

But  there  is  a  cheering  sequel  to  the 
story  of  the  lost  Christ.  They  found  Him. 
Directly  they  discovered  that  He  was 
missing,  they  went  back  to  Jerusalem  to 
look  for  the  lost  Christ.  But  here  is  a 
fact  which  we  must  not  ignore.  It  did 
not  take  one  day  to  lose  Christ,  but  it 
took  three  days  to  find  Him.  How  true 
that  is  !  A  foul  jest,  an  impure  thought, 
an  hour's  dalliance  with  sin,  and  the  sun- 
shine of  His  presence  is  eclipsed.  And 
then  comes  the  long  and  bitter  repentance 
that  rends  the  heart,  the  weary  soul-tor- 


112  FIRST  BATTLES. 

meriting  search  for  the  deserted  Lord. 
Let  us  not  despair,  however,  for  Christ 
was  found  in  the  city  after  all.  Perse- 
vere manfully,  hopefully — do  not  give  up, 
even  when  the  search  seems  to  be  in  vain. 
Christ  is  never  very  far  from  those  who 
seek  Him,  and  even  in  the  city — dark 
and  bitter  and  unwholesome  as  it  may 
be — He  is  to  be  found  by  honest  hearts 
and  true. 

The  end  of  the  story  points  a  useful 
moral  for  young  men  in  great  cities. 
They  found  Christ  in  the  Temple,  and 
you,  my  brother,  will  most  .likely  find 
Him  there  too.  Nothing  is  more  distress- 
ing to  ministers  than  to  witness  the  small 
proportion  of  young  men  in  our  churches. 
Nothing  is  more  spiritually  suicidal  than 
the  way  in  which  men  neglect  the  house 
of  prayer.  One  reason  for  this  is  igno- 
rance. Many  young  men,  who  in  other 
respects  are  sane  and  reasonable,  have  a 
most    baseless   and  unworthy   prejudice 


THE  LOST  CHRIS T.  113 

against  preachers.  But  no  manly,  honest 
fellow  will  allow  himself  to  be  fettered  by 
prejudice.  Seek  for  Christ,  therefore, 
in  the  Temple.  In  the  calm,  quiet  sanc- 
tuary some  sweet  song  may  cheer  you  ; 
some  noble  utterance  may  inspire  you; 
and  Christ  Himself  may  enter  your  heart 
and  make  it  to  throb  with  love — touch  your 
lips  and  set  them  on  fire  with  a  message 
to  the  world,  and  clasp  your  hands  and 
make  them  busy  in  His  service.  Then 
you  will  know  the  joy  of  faith  and  the 
rapture  of  self-sacrifice.  Then  life  will  be 
worth  living. 

And  now  as  we  finish  the  story  of  the 
lost  Christ,  we  may  well  ask :  Is  He 
with  us  to-day,  not  only  as  a  personal 
friend  and  Savior,  but  as  a  powerful  in- 
fluence in  the  larger  life  of  the  nation  } 
Is  the  spirit  of  Christ  bringing  us  nearer 
to  the  social  regeneration  of  mankind  ? 
Looking  out  upon  the  world  the  first  im^ 
pression  is  deeply  discouraging.     First  of 


1 14  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

all,  there  is  a  distressing  overplus  of 
laborers.  Strong  men,  eager  for  honest 
toil,  endure  the  agonies  of  hunger  and  ex- 
posure, and  in  many  cases  the  additional 
sorrow  of  beholding  the  sufferings  of  their 
family.  On  the  other  hand,  overwhelm- 
ing wealth  is  often  allied  with  avarice  and 
immorality,  and  while  the  poor  starve  by 
inches,  the  rich — to  a  large  extent — ig- 
nore the  needs  of  their  brethren,  and  are 
only  solicitous  that  Lazarus  should  not 
become  inconveniently  prominent.  Thou- 
sands of  young  men  are  forced  to  slave 
in  cramped  shops  and  cheerless  ware- 
houses for  sixty  and  seventy  hours  a 
week,  with  never  an  interval  for  physical 
recreation  or  intellectual  improvement. 
In  attics  and  cellars  women  sew  shirts  or 
make  cheap  clothing  for  inhuman  "  sweat- 
ers "  for  a  wage  which  is  insufficient  for 
the  rent  of  a  bed — not  to  speak  of  a  sepa- 
rate room — and  are  often  compelled  to 
choose  between  starvation  and  vice.     In 


THE  LOST  CHRIST.  1 1 5 

other  sections  of  the  same  cities  whole 
streets  are  in  the  possession  of  rouged 
and  painted  sirens  of  sensuality  and  sin — 
every  one  a  standing  rebuke  to  the  weak- 
ness and  wickedness  of  man.  Europe 
literally  bristles  with  bayonets,  and  in- 
stead of  settling  trifling  disputes  by  wise 
and  fair  consultation,  the  nations  continue 
to  rush  into  the  mad  devilry  of  carnage 
and  conflagration.  As  for  the  young  men, 
thousands  of  them  are  gambling  them- 
selves into  prison,  or  drinking  themselves 
into  early  graves  ;  and  yet  every  respect- 
able newspaper  is  occupied  with  long 
reports  of  horse-races,  and  a  so  called 
Christian  Community  permits  a  saloon 
to  be  planted  at  the  corner  of  every 
street.  Sin  is  made  easy,  vice  is  made 
cheap,  trickery  prevails  in  trade,  bitter- 
ness in  politics,  and  apathy  in  religion. 
Does  not  the  glad  message  of  "  Peace  on 
earth,  goodwill  to  men,"  which  the  angels 
once  rang  out  over  the  moonlit  meadows 


1 16  FIRST  BA  TTLES. 

of  Bethlehem,  seem  like  a  ghastly  satire 
in  ears  accustomed  to  the  rumors  of  war 
the  strife  of  parties,  and  the  cries  of  the 
oppressed  ? 

Nevertheless,  I  maintain  that  Christ  is 
with  us,  and  that  there  is  a  growing  rec- 
ognition of  human  brotherhood  the  world 
over.  Years  ago  we  should  have  been 
unmoved  by  the  horror  and  iniquity  of 
war.  The  social  sores  which  alarm  and 
distress  us  to-day  would  have  been  re- 
garded as  normal  aud  irredeemable.  But 
to  the  enlightened  vision  of  earnest  Chris- 
tians they  now  appear  diabolical  and  de- 
grading, and  this  very  fact  proves  that  we 
are  advancing.  Let  those  who  think  that 
the  general  outlook  is  becoming  more 
dismal,  read  the  history  of  what  we  ironi- 
cally call  the  "  good  old  times."  They 
will  find  that  at  a  period  within  the  mem- 
ory of  many  now  living,  one-seventh  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Liverpool,  England,  lived 
in  cellars,  five-sixths  of  the  inhabitants  of 


THE  LOST  CHRIST.  117 

Rochdale  had  scarcely  a  blanket  apiece, 
one  person  in  every  eleven  throughout 
England  was  receiving  relief  from  the 
poor  rates,  and  three  children  out  of  four 
were  receiving  no  schooling  whatever. 
Children  of  six,  five,  or  even  four  years 
of  age,  were  kept  at  hard  work  in  the 
mines,  and  hunger,  disease,  ignorance, 
and  brutal  vice  were  alarmingly  preva- 
lent. Of  course,  if  it  is  any  consolation 
to  unhealthy  pessimists  to  believe  that 
we  are  inevitably  getting  worse,  then 
who  would  deny  them  that  tender  and 
refreshing  thought  }  But  we  may  well 
rejoice  in  the  fact  that  the  general  aspect 
of  social  life  was  never  so  bright  as  it  is 
to-day.  Poverty  and  impurity  and  in- 
temperance still  exist,  but  the  way  to 
fight  and  annihilate  these  evils  is  not  to 
sit  down  and  sigh,  but  to  be  up  and  doing 
with  cheerful  alacrity  and  tireless  prese- 
verance. 

Surely  it  is  a  striking  indication  of  the 


1 1 8  FIRS  T  BA  TTLES. 

presence  of  Christ  and  the  vitality  of 
Christianity  when  great  evils  are  regarded 
as  intolerable.  If  our  hearts  are  saddened 
by  the  awful  contrast  between  grim  pov- 
erty and  glittering  wealth,  we  may  find 
hope  and  courage  in  the  fact  that  real, 
vigorous,  common-sense  Christianity  is 
making  unmistakable  progress.  The  day 
of  hollow  shams,  of  rigid  formaHsm  and 
luxurious  selfishness,  is  nearly  over. 
Thank  God,  all  Christians  are  not  loung- 
ing in  cushioned  pews  and  comforting 
one  another  with  the  assurance  that 

Doing  is  a  deadly  thing  ; 
Doing  ends  in  death. 

Some  have  discovered  that  to  contem- 
plate the  prospective  glories  of  heaven  is 
not  nearly  so  useful  as  to  bring  heaven's 
glory  down  to  earth.  The  genius  of  true 
religion  is  practical  beneficence,  and  it 
cannot  be  deaf  to  the  cry  of  human  sor- 
row and  need ;  it  must   take   the  great 


THE  LOST  CHRIST  119 

bleeding  world   to  its  heart,  and  tend  it 
lovingly  until  all  its  wounds  are  healed. 

Let  us  be  of  good  cheer,  for  Christ  is 
not  lost.  We  know  He  is  with  us,  for 
we  see  an  ever-increasing  spirit  of  broth- 
er-hood extending  throughout  the  world. 
We  know  He  is  with  us,  for  there  is 
springing  up  a  self-sacrificing  burden- 
bearing,  truth-loving  Christianity,  which 
shall  yet  dispel  the  appalling  gloom  of 
earth's  despair.  Christ  Himself  is  with 
us,  and  He  is  calling  upon  every  young 
man  to  join  in  the  bloodless  battle  for 
righteousness.  Be  silent  and  stagnant 
and  selfish  no  longer.  Give  Him  your 
unwavering  trust,  your  unquestioning 
obedience,  your  undivided  love,  and  in 
return  He  will  give  you  a  life  that  shall  be 
joyous,  serene,  triumphant. 


21478                                           1 

DATE  DUE 

mift-4fr 

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' 

i 

CAYLORO 

PRINTCO  INU.t.A. 

Ij 


3  1970  00107  1239 


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